Being Human: Strange Little Girl
by Illicit Ivory
Summary: Set right after Wolf-shaped bullet, Annie and George are left to deal with life without Mitchell. Annie has the power to protect her remaining friends. But how does she learn...maybe a recently lost 'friend' can help Chapter 8 up Rated T for later maybe
1. The True John Mitchell

**After watching quite possibly one of the greatest series finales of any damn show ever my muse went a little beserk. I thought of and wrote this story today! I really wish I could do all that youtube thing but I can't so writing is all I can do. It's coming into slow fruition and have a vague idea where I'm heading with this. Reviews please, enjoy also!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of Being Human, the Beeb and Toby Whithouse do - I'm so very jealous of his genius writing, esepecially that taunting rhyme - That was COOL! SPOILERS to the Americans that have yet to see this, I doubt it's many cos I wouldn't wait!**The three of them stood there in a daze of grief and determination, Annie couldn't stop herself from clutching George's hand. She felt so very lost now, she had purpose and she would be needed both by Nina and the baby and by whoever's poor soul needed saving next.

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...Like John Mitchell's.

Strange, she had always expected finding the one, Mr Right, the love of her life in a more grandiose fashion, not simply by sharing the same flat for solidarity's sake. Yet it was all so extraordinary, love both began for them when life had long since ended, it took her to die to find it – Cupid suffered fools a little too gladly for her liking. Still, at least she found him - he was a vampire with an insatiable bloodlust who lived as a broken man – but she still found him. The John Mitchell that was born in 1893 and 'died' in France in 1917 was never truly taken away. He would come back in moments of friendship, loyalty, love. The true Mitchell was there to pick up the pieces when Annie's helplessness over Owen was at it's worst. It was there when he said goodbye to his beloved Josie and it was there to bring back Annie from oblivion.

It was a blur, it only took a few seconds but his demise was a terribly swift blur.

"I'm doing this because I love you' George whispered after slamming that stake through his best friend's heart. John Mitchell, the true, Mischievous, loyal and proud John Mitchell was there to say goodbye with a contented smile.

"I Know" The Irishman replied, elated, relieved and finally at peace.

Annie was stirred from her thoughts by hands slowly clapping, Wyndham was sneering and a new storm was coming. One Annie would have to face without that guiding star, without her Mitchell. The trio faced the elder vampire and looked straight ahead at the uncertain future as they reluctantly turned back on the past...and Mitchell's ashes.

"Bravo Georgie-boy, who would have though a skinny little imp like you would have the brass to kill your very best friend so his soul could be saved?" The Old one mocked the werewolf with a whiney, theatrical lament. Nina grabbed hold of George's wrist but she had no need to fear, he was barely registering anything: He felt numb and was beginning to shake from the shock of what he had just done, he felt cold, he felt small. Worst of all from the malice in the sharp-suited vampire's eyes he saw the chaos to come and he was all that stood between Wyndham and the women in his life...he felt very small indeed but he held firm.

"Your cause is lost, Herrick couldn't have him, the reverend couldn't have him, you couldn't have him...John Mitchell is gone for good" George gritted his teeth and squared up to the elder as his common sense would allow.

Wyndham unsurprisingly was unfazed but his eyes smiled as his fellow vampire's pet failed miserably at trying to be menacing. For George's stare broke the moment he heard Annie sob, she tried to keep it in but the grief came in waves and waterfalls. Nina manage to grab her before she fell to her knees, looking courageous now in the face of the enemy was foolhardy but they didn't care anymore.

"What a waste, nobility is something my kind have very little time for – Notorious beings like Mitchell deserved better fates then this ramshackle two-starred faulty towers...Ah well must be off, we'll continue another time shall we?" The elder mockingly sighed and headed for the front door.

"He chose it; he wanted it...with all your hard-arsed, self-indulgent, annoyingly grumpy ways of going on. You lot will never get that...braving the freedom of choice" Grief was making George a little too daring and the will to carry on hadn't quite recovered yet. He had Nina yes but since she indulged Herrick he would never be able to trust her completely...He felt such shame because of it.

Wyndham glided towards George exactly like the way the werewolf had seen see it in the movies. There was no hard slap from his heels on the floor boards; his feet were off the ground. His eyes were black and the vampire cocked his head from side to side and back again. George stepped back aghast, Nina grabbed his arm.

"Listen here little doggy, I have a white squall of a temper I have been around since Old William had a brew-haha off some English Coast, I have seen empires rise and fall, if you've seen one revolution you really have seen them all. All these years and my bugbear is _still _someone with bad manners" He seethed

"Wyndham, like Mitchell said we don't know you but I'm pretty sure you'll tell us in due time. Let him go" Annie demanded Wyndham could see her curls matted from the static and saw the house was slightly shaking. The old one shoved him away, thrilled by his new rival. The vampire knew she was the one to worry about, her love and despair for Mitchell was so strong it was making him antsy but he was delighted all the same.

"Whoa, never mind Mitchell and these two, Annie my strange little girl where are _you _going? It's obvious you don't know where you should be going" Wyndham chuckled heartily and swaggered closely to the ghost, who looked at him without a clue.

"...The Stranglers Strange Little Girl? A reference to what you'll – God never mind, before you're time, you'll get it in the end though" The vampire was hospitable but his stance was still of a killer ready to pounce.

Wyndham had to hand it to the Irishman - although the elder had courted maidens in his human life, took princesses, servants, colonists of the 'new world' – Annie was a beautiful woman, gentle eyes, warm smile, delicate skin. Yes John Mitchell was a man of...good taste.

For the first time since she was forcefully taken, Annie felt a gnawing in her stomach, something was pulling at her, a slight ache...Was Purgatory calling for her again?

"I'd do something about that if I were you...you don't have much time left. Time waits for no one, not even a vampire...I'll say goodbye...for now"

Goodbye Gordon Bloody Gekko, I hope greed is still good for you!" Nina balked

A silence shrouded the room, the tears were shed but they would fall again though not tonight, to night they were too exhausted.

For once Nina went into the kitchen and made the tea, leaving George and Annie to reflect on their loss.

"Did you ever doubt he would do the right thing?" Annie whimpered

"Yes, back in that cage he had a stake to my neck, it was a bluff but for a moment I...Yes" George started to blub again.

"Lia showed me, she showed me you two in that awful place and for a while I was so angry with what he did to those people and I think 'Justice is being done one way or another' but I feel sick and I'm so sad because two men who meant the world to me were about to kill each other" Annie's voice started to crack, she began hyperventilating. Falling into each other's arms the two friends slumped down together onto the floor. George took the hair from Annie's face, he was weeping now.

"Why say we're for eternity when he didn't want it? Why say love when it was just, it was just..." Annie sobbed.

"Oh you know bloody well he loved you, you silly sod. Getting you back was his mission, purgatory and back again and all four corners of the world if he had to" George sniffled as he stroked her face.

"No, you two, you and Mitchell what you did there was the bravest, most beautiful thing..." Annie still shook her head, still in denial that after all he was, all Mitchell said and did, he could still love her that much.

"No it's not"

"Yes, yes it is – the truth is we were both robbed of our lives, Mitchell and I. So how can we love each other so? You brought him back from the brink; you knew what he was capable but you saved him. That's real love George" Annie cooed

George was saddened that Annie already had doubts, so insecure in herself to be convinced of being the ultimate love of anyone, let alone Mitchell's.

"Tell me something, if you both lived...properly lived and met?"

"You would have been sick of the sight of me being so stupidly happy" Annie joked but her mind wandered into the pointless game of what if?

"What if you married him?" George dug deep and hit a raw nerve with that question but he had to ask it.

"Christ George, This isn't Emma, although I admit I would have loved the dresses if I lived back in regency times. But after the mess with Owen. I would have been commitment-phobic and he hated me nagging him anyway and my Sundays with Larkrise to Candleford..." Annie babbled, she babbled when she felt invisible and ignored by the world. Her wonderful George was there beside her but still came the question 'how long for?'

"ANNIE!" George snapped, his friend took a breath and he saw her think of her heart's answer and watched the anguish cloud around her again.

"In another life if he proposed at any point I would have said yes, in another life we would have meant the world to each other. But all we have is this life George, that's all we've got...ooh" Annie stood up but the twinge in her stomach became more apparent. As she held on to George she could see flashes of a long hall and the silhouette of a tall man.

The echo, the whisper in time held a familiar lament of a Dublin accent.

'_Annie' _

"What's wrong what is it?" George asked anxiously as he steadied her up.

"I'm...not sure" Annie was being rational and it was rather pointless for a supernatural being to be rational. But she instinctively knew that voice, would hear it whisper sweet nothings, sooth her, calm her.

"...Mitchell?" She thought to herself

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**Hope you liked it, probably the most angsty thing I've done for fanfiction - face it it wasn't gonna be roses and rainbows was it?**

**P.S mad max readers: I'm working on the 4th chapter at the mo' It'll be done soon enough**


	2. Dark Angel In The Light

**Help! I can't stop writing this - I have coursework to do, I'm a busy gal and yet my muse won't leave me alone, I'm leaving it for a few days till I'm less busy...Who knew writing could be addictive - actually I do since I am one - on the verge anyway! R&R**

**Disclaimer - Owning this would be a dream, I live in the real world, of course this doesn't belong to me!**"Come on Nina one more push and it's all over" Ordered the midwife who had started her shift only a while ago while Nina had suffered six hours of labour. George was there at her side his exhausted other half determined to squeeze his hand beyond use for getting in this very natural, very painful predicament.

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"Come on sweetheart we're really there...Aaahaaa my God woman am I going to have to wear a gauntlet next time.

"There...WILL NOT...BE...A...NEXT TIME" Nina screamed, it was true was they said, Doctors and Nurses made the worst patients. She actually wondered if you could sue people for being so patronising. Then before long the phenomenon finally arrived – a child born to werewolves.

The hospital room was abuzz with mania on every level imaginable, the mania of professionals trying to maintain control, the mania of squabbling parents and the mania of another circle of life being drawn. But alas that would be dictated to by the moon cycle as well as Mother Nature. George was bawling almost as badly as his son. Suddenly a brilliantly white light swept the room and the world went into slow motion. Annie appeared and stood beside the open incubator that was now the temporary bed of the infant.

"Everyone do as I do...In...out...in...out, you too junior" The ghost inhaled and exhaled, remarkably the baby calmed and looked to side that Annie stood.

"Annie if want yoga, go haunt a gym...See I knew she wouldn't wait outside" George huffed wearily, it was stupid O'clock when the baby began to prepare for his big entrance and now it would say it was 'almost Earthly hours' but he wasn't sure.

"Don't you mind him Annie; I choose you over drugs and that Mother Teresa over there any day" Nina groaned scowling at the midwife

"Okay then George so what are we going to do?" Annie said cheerily, George went over to her and held her hands initially to be firm and iterate on his request of being outside. He nodded to himself that it was what he was going to do. But then he found himself breathing in and out. Once again floored by the female of the species.

"Ready?" Annie piped

"Yes" George replied with exasperation then breathed in and out lie she told him to.

"Name...?" Annie bluffed disinterest and even made a mix with all the names Nina and she both liked but there was only ever going to be one name...

"You know well what name, John Michael Mitchell Sans" George shook his head and smiled sweetly at his friend but then the smile faded. He burned the stake the very next morning after Mitchell's death but if he thought about it that stake will forever be in his hand.

"No doubt he would head helped to wet the baby's head, or douse it if we're being honest...He would have loved that George...Call if you need me" Annie disappeared and the new parents knew she would be in the room or the attic mourning him.

Wyndham was right though, Annie had barely grasped how powerful she was becoming, the floorboards would creek and the walls would slightly tremor as she cried. They had already gone through half an ASDA aisle of light bulbs to the point where George actually thought about using torches lamps and candles.

George came back to change, he helped blow a few balloons up but left as the sole member of the welcoming home committee. It had been two months she Mitchell died and this was the first time she was left properly alone. She tried to get the banner up but everyone knew you needed two pair of hands for the job. She placed the party food and three paper plates before scrunching the third one up in her hand and growling at her stupidity. Mitchell occasionally tried to eat food but she would see the blank expression on his face. Two dangerous appetites replaced a healthy one, one was for blood the other was self-destruction.

In that other life she dreamed of about Mitchell, she would often look at the period clothing of the early 20th century. With the petticoats and the hats and the corsets and then wonder if Mitchell would have given her the time of day: Took her to dances, defend her from the bigots of old, take her arm, stand if she left a table. Annoyed at the banner falling down a third time she quickly grew angry and threw it against the wall...where it stayed put. She was shocked as the house shuddered, she knelt down beside the spot where her almost lover stood when he succumbed to his self-prophesised fate. Placing a hand on the carpet she crumbed again but she heard someone call her, a woman's voice this time.

"Annie, you have work to do...come" Said a female voice, the ghost stood up to face that door again and this time she stormed straight in without a backward glance.

Bewildered and stumped for words for the hallway she was expecting wasn't there instead her boots walked on a footpath to a very wide stretch of grass.

"She saw a woman at the top of a knoll dressed in a pink miniskirt and a long white cardigan.

"Annie Sawyer oh how I've longed to meet you ...I'm Josie, Mitchell and I were...very old friends"

"Is he...here, is he okay?" Annie stammered as she looked around, her smile was nervous and her stomach doubled-knotted at the thought of a reunion.

"He's facing his demons, his punishment is to face all the lives he stole only then will he be at peace with himself" Josie said sadly.

"Is somebody holding him, is he in trouble? What good was letting him here when it's no different to Wyndham's idea?" Annie guffawed and she pulled her cardigan around her.

"Annie you still don't understand, Heaven and hell are perceptions, not every soul will see a white cloud and a gate of gold or a fiery pit. His hell is the one he made for himself just as his own idea of heaven" The woman spread out her arms and gestured to the green sparse scenery.

"Where is this place?" Annie sighed as she ventured closer to Josie, who appeared to be her new guide in purgatory. That meant Lia had moved on at last.

"This is the biggest mass of grass, tree and wooden bench in Europe, this is Croke Park...We're in Dublin Annie" Josie smiled and Annie smiled back unable to hold her excitement.

"Oh please tell me where he is, show me, I'd run on forever to find him please" She gushed but then the daughter of divorced parents, toxic boyfriends and painful self-doubt pondered something saddening.

"Unless you're both reunited, you're the first to see beyond the vampire of course you would have been first to see him here...I won't get in the way, if you're back together" Annie continued and stumbled away, the stylish woman pulled her back.

"No Annie no, I've being watching you both and it's so wonderful to be so special to another person" Josie remarked proudly and she clasped her hands together.

"Well we were both dead, both like driftwood so we stuck together – I admit I may have taken the early crush a bit too far at times. I mean he was my life in the fact he kept it busy and noticed and valued" Annie stammered

"I knew him for over thirty years Annie and I never saw him try for anything as hard as he did to bring you back, that's when he realised he loved you...You wonderfully oblivious girl, thank you for making him as happy as he tried to be" Josie laughed and hugged Annie, she hugged back and doubts were dissolving, except one.

"If Lia made up the prophecy, she made up a love story and messed with our feelings, how could you be so sure about what we're supposed to be to each other?" Annie shrugged and coughed out the disappointment.

Lia was as impetuous as a child but she had good observation skills, she realised that you both loved each other much more that either of you let on" Josie walked along a winding footpath and Annie walked beside her, she was silent with that remark as she knew deep down it was true.

"Why am I here Josie, who was pulling at me? If not Mitchell..."

"-Something big is coming and you must prepare yourself, your telekinesis has to go a lot farther to save your friends. They will be hunted by Wyndham's factions George can't fight off that kind of power but you'll need help...For that you need to Find Vincent Stefan Rothchild"

"Look Josie I can't be snooping about here I'll be needed back soon for Nina and the baby, George is barely keeping it together I can't jus-"

"It's for them Annie, all these years you've been wondering how you haven't crossed over yet. Well for one it was yours decision to stay for another you've never found something to pave the way for you to rest...Protecting Nina and George is your way home Annie" Josie took her by the shoulders for she knew that Annie would feel glad about being set free but on what that would mean for George.

"I couldn't leave George on his own, not with what he's just done – Don't you feel his conscience break him, don't you feel his heart breaking over what he had to do to save his best friend?" Annie was confused but that was soon swept away in a fit of anger. A wind blew through them and a roll of thunder rumbled. Josie wasn't afraid in fact she looked expectant.

Josie stood in silence and allowed Annie to compose herself, looking up at the sky she remembered the roll of thunder and looked at Jodie in disbelief.

"Did I...Did I justdo that?"

Josie let Annie answer her own question as once she saw the girl's eyes flash with worry on the realisation that it really _could_ have been her she carried on.

"I warn you now, Vincent was a loose cannon in his afterlife as a vampire, when people have no regrets in life there's little chance of the changing in Purgatory.

A white door appeared in the middle of nowhere and Josie raised an open hand towards it.

"I'll be back here after right? I have to say this beats a dingy hall any day" Annie giggled nervously.

"The fear you have of this place is gone, the shadows that took you are far away from here...You can go where you like Annie...and whatever place Mitchell wants to show you" Josie laughed and rubbed the girl's arm to reassure her. Both pairs of eyes sparkled at the mere mention of his name.

"I will see him won't I? This isn't another trick is it? After Lia I don't trust this place much" Annie twiddled her fingers and bit her lip, she was going into a mission of some sort, without a compass, guide or defence system, she was practically blindsided.

"Lia mentioned that Mitchell made the prophecy, the lie to come true, the same will be for Tom McNair. He wanted so much to find a pack of his own, he has with Nina George and the baby but you still have to save them"

With perhaps a tinge of jealousy Josie added

"You will see each other again when you are both ready, good luck Annie...you're going to need it"

With that Annie opened another door and found herself in the gloom of a warehouse, traipsing up some stairs she heard music in the distance. It was The Specials Too Much Too Young; Annie only knew that because of her older cousin Sonny's music collection. Sure enough there was the stereotypical Ska Man: drainpipe trousers with slack, pin-striped shirt and a black tribly hat. He was jumping around from side to side.

Blonde hair in a crew cut, piercing blue eyes, lanky but energetic in other words your typical Jack the lad. His cronies sat around him on a tatty red leather sofa with the music blaring on a classic jukebox.

"I'm looking for a Vincent Rothchild, any of you guys know him or of him or...Are him?" Annie tried to shout over the noise and the cackling the boys were making.

After a few more vain attempts to get their attention Annie threw her arms up in the air and swung them back down. Initially it was just to vent frustration at being ignored but then she her glass cracking and an LP scratching and the jukebox shutting down.

Vincent stopped still and his gang all shot up from the couch, he smiled and cocked his head at the unexpected visitor.

"No need for that missus a nice hello would have done and then...who knows what" The dancer walked up to the woman and looked her over and pursed his lips.

"You have to be Vincent" Annie frowned, she wasn't afraid of this cocksure, live-wired and obvious bad boy. Prior to meeting George and Mitchell if she hadn't met Owen, she would have known a guy like him.

"The one and only, although I'm afraid to say the Blood sport business went out the minute my back was turned...quite literally so..." The South Londoner shrugged and pinched his nose, he so wanted to get to know this woman better: Properly and gentlemanly like this time but there was already a wedge between them.

"I need to the lowdown on Wyndham"

Suddenly the ego was gone and the former vampire shrank back a little, his eyes darting around with paranoia.

"How does a young thing like you know an elder like him?" He whispered

"He came into my house, threatened those that matter to me...I need to know what you lot know"

"...Me? Break the code? Are you fucking nuts? I'm a slip of a lad I'm only six hundred years old...what do I know?"

"You'll tell me who is he you tell me where he comes from..." The ghost demanded.

"Or what...? I'm already dead, fully dead may I add as are you so what can you do?"

"Annie made the floor tremble beneath their feet, shatter all the remaining windows that had glass and smashed up the jukebox. Vincent stood back mockingly and clasped his hands to his heart.

"Boy, I think I'm in love...telekinesis, I once could rip burly men to shreds, smash through 3 inch thick doors and all you got is...telekinesis. Fuck, you're in trouble aren't you?"

"Then help...me" Annie invaded his personal space and whispered to him in her huskiest voice, Vincent was hooked.

"I'll being seeing you boys, this game is too good not to play with" He grinned and his posse scattered. Vincent pulled up a chair for Annie and put his own chair backwards. Leaning against the metal arch he stared dreamily at her.

"Old Wyndham represents the headmaster's office, he is the top dog, the big chief, the father we never get to see of Don Vito Corleone, he is the teacher's cane that snaps down...when things go wrong" Vincent slapped a hand across his wrist and snarled.

"Is he as old as he says he is?" Annie asked solemnly

"Nobody knows, see I was into the fold when the _first_ Lizzie was head of state, I saw Macbeth and shook the bard's hand and shared a few beers with him – Quite the hard drinker old Billy...tell you something, you'll need to do more than that x-men Magneto shite!" The former vampire chuckled

"Okay Mister big shot, seeing you know so much you show me how to battle against Wyndham" Annie snapped, bored of the man's ego already. This brought out a fit of giggles to Vincent then he stopped and leaned over the chair, the laughter gone, the glint in the eyes faded. All that he had was a warning very stark and stoic.

"...Battle Wyndham? _Battle _Wyndham...You? Listen up Curly Sue and listen well, I know more about you than you realise. I've heard of your mad vigilante ways with Herrick and that lab but you _cannot possibly believe_ for a SECOND that Wyndham is just another villain of the piece, he's not! He is the rage and the ruin of us, he is the only fear a vampire fears above all things" Vincent was baffled by the woman's determination but she was ignorant and ignorance was bliss.

If vampires ever built an empire like the kind we've dreamed of for centuries he wouldn't be the emperor" Vincent was incredulous but he tried to be calm in dropping the bombshell.

"He would be Buddha, Shiva or Ra...Understand? You will fight him but only to be left alone, only for his respect" He whispered, for the first time since he died as a human, Vincent indulged in morality, he pitied the woman and envied the legendary vampire that came to him several weeks before.

"_Unless you want a shit storm here in purgatory and just about everywhere else you will help her"_ _Ordered the man who stood in the shadows. _

"_I'd like to extend my hospitality if I may?" Vincent suggested as looked forward to female company, the question was dressed up as respectful chivalry but hid an ego-centric carnal nature. _

"_No you may not, she's mine and I'll demolish this whole place if I find even a lock of her hair out of place" John _

_The things we do for love eh? Vincent called out and could just about see a broad-shouldered figure with dark hair and scowling face. _

"Come on, your other half wasn't the only one who knew ghosts and ghouls..."

Where are you taking me?" Annie protested as she was shoved in the direction of the door.

"Laurence, a friend of mine – a ghost's problem need a ghost's solution...after you"

The two left the warehouse, Annie hoped that she had not gone long from the world of the living, from Nina and from George, her poor, hapless George.

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** I Don't care how people feel towards the vincent character but for those few moments Paul Kaye was Vincent we had our own British version of Spike or David - it was no rip-off but a bloody clever homage - You didn't see Marsters or Sutherland's characters instigate dogfights, jump on pillars and give the impression that the actors really were punks in his youth...Did you? Bring him back Whithouse you know it makes sense!**


	3. Slave To Love

**Becoming human it tries but it just can't cut the mustard! Too twilight-like, the best vamp actors we know were over thirty: Oldman, Pitt, Marsters, Lee. With only two exceptions being Kiefer and of course Aidan! **

**Apologies for the tardy dialogue I'm never that bad, formatting is such a pain! Yay for reviews...told ya I'd be back! **

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The next thing Annie knew she was in a club packed full of people, Vincent was now dressed in blue trousers and a tailor-fitted jacket made of velvet. He continued to lead Annie through the crowd, by the dance floor and along the tables. He was bopping along to The Who's I Can't Explain; everyone appeared to be giving him leeway like he owned the place. Upon finding the right table the rebel took Annie by the hand and led her to a spot where she would sit beside him. On an opposite chair sat a bohemian behind complete with the tight turtleneck and blue-tinted shades.

"Annie Sawyer, Laurence Cross...I've known him for a hundred years, your first lesson of true telekinesis begins with him" Vincent pointed before lounging around the chair.

"I lead a boring afterlife to yours, you bend and twist more objects that Uri Gellar and here I am stuck in Quadrophenia" The Scot shook his head.

"You honestly think I would let a girl like her see me in a wig, stockings and cravats do you? Besides where on your patch Laurie – You gonna show us or not?" Vincent challenged

Lawrence slowly nodded and stood up, Vincent clocked his head for Annie to follow him, they walked out into a corridor.

"Right little lady this is where shit might get weird and matrix-like, no rule of the Earth applies to you; not solid stone, no physical harm, nothing. Anything that gets in your way you bulldoze or crack it like an egg.

Annie was amazed to see the floorboards splinter and shatter and the plaster on the walls crack indeed like an eggshell.

"If you want the matrix feel free to change into leather, if you want a name-change that would be good to, Spirit, The Visionary, something with oomph" Vincent teased.

Annie shook her head annoyed by the distraction and soon enough the plaster was smashing down from the ceiling. Vincent stretched his tongue over his top lip and nodded at Lawrence.

Need to do better than that, use something for practise, try small then level-up to big objects. It's tricky I know, you being a girl and all" Vincent was pulverised off the ground through a wall into the next room. After shoving the debris off himself Vincent whooped and chuckled.

"Good God almighty if I felt pain that would have hurt, if I had my mojo I would be turned on right now. Want to try again?"

"Ah floored play is it or am I misplacing a few letters?" Laurie smirked

"At least I don't go pining on for the same ghost for ten years!"

Yeah and That Mitchell bloke ain't gonna have you over hot coals with this? These two are twin flames, kindred spirits. You don't meddle in things like that Vinnie"

"Oh but I think she's worth the meddling into" Annie blew her admirer away with another invisible shove and a gale force wind. Vincent simply fell on his backside grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Marry me Annie? Where the fuck was a girl like you when I was alive?" He panted, intoxicated by this woman's zest and strength.

"No can do 'Vinnie' see you're not bad boy enough, see I know your secret – You have the vagueness of a near-decent man; Without those werewolves you were just a man-child in a red cape all dressed for Halloween. I know the real McCoy"

Annie was flirting now, her heart was Mitchell's but it had been a long time since she played that game, one last try didn't hurt. She nodded to him and leaned closer to his ear before smashing the chandelier above them and sweeping two dozen tables off the floor.

"Remember, matter is no objective you're dead so there's none to be an obstacle for you – practise" Lawrence warned as he shook her hand. Even though it was against her instincts she figured her family needed all the help they could get. She kissed Vincent on the cheek.

"You're ea strange thing Vinnie, I mean you're an arrogant arse but a half-decent arrogant arse" Annie faintly smiled then left to make her way out of purgatory. Vincent slapped his hands across his chest to dramatically clutch his heart.

"John Mitchell you lucky little shit!" He seethed enviously

The new mother shuffled into the hallway, energy spent, body aching and brain matter way beyond any function. She needed sleep but wished she could be like other families with semi-detached houses. Instead of making a nursery in a room that was at the far end of a BNB complete with terrace a fire extinguisher and some of those green sticker exit signs on the wall. The boy's room would be the one after Mitchell's, Nina had a habit of being too brusque but she knew that subject matter was non-negotiable to George.

Using it meant erasing whatever impact Mitchell made as a human, his last Poppy pin, his LP collection that could sell into the hundreds. Billie Holliday, Josie Baker and music so older the fuzz noise was just as part of the music as the eloquent eclectic singing. He kept tickets of old yet historic concerts; Led Zeppelin in Madison Square Garden of 1973, a signed Autograph from the Great Satchmo from the fifties, the cap he used to where in his teens as a young Dubliner. It was all no boxed up and locked away. They would hear Annie venture in on some nights and cry and cry.

"Well now, home and last I'll pop the kettle on and we can enjoy our little shindig" George said softly as his rubbed his girlfriend's back.

"Ah George, you didn't have to" Nina smiled and awards hugged George as she was still holding John in his little carrier.

"We both need cheering up, it gave Annie an excuse to be busy but I'm running out of ideas" George shook his head.

"How do you think she's coping?" Nina said softly, the guilt over her actions weighed heavy but her crusading spirit never let that last long, somebody has to be righteous it might as well be her.

George furiously shook his head and said in a hush

"She isn't" George leaned against a wall and took of his glasses, squeezing the sleep from the corners of his eyes but then the tears came.

"You're not coping either are you?" Nina unwisely persevered

George shook his head looked down at the carpet like a lost child.

"No"

This prompted a lingering kiss from Nina as she stared into a poor love's eyes but was adamant that what happened was for the greater good.

"Annie are you here? Can you help with baby John please?" Nina called out and after a few seconds Annie appeared seeming more confident than usual. That was until she spied George, saying nothing she simply clasped his hand. She had been doing that a lot lately, the shock of the sacrifice made was so apparent it would take his balance sometimes.

"I'll make a cuppa, Nina, how are you holding up?" Annie whispered as she snooped down as the dozing little cub.

"Well we all remember Baby Houseman well I literally carried a watermelon, no chance of a Patrick Swayze though" She groaned as she warily stretched her body once she placed John on the sofa.

"Ha with my club feet, more monster mash then the Mambo, good choice of a wedding song?" George crossed his arms and looked at her coyly before realising what he had just said. Nina raised an eyebrow and frowned, the response of song choice was a negative.

"Thank you for the spread Annie it's lovely" Nina smiled, Annie was still heavily distracted by the goings on with The Other Side and wondered where Mitchell really was. Managing a smile she scooted off to the kitchen to make tea. Once again bringing in a third item without thinking, grabbing the cup that would have been made for Mitchell she closed her eyes.

"I will find you..._I will find you" _She growled to herself.

John Mitchell should have been in a situation of being terrified, the dark ones that took Annie would now take him. He was subjected to the horrible taunts of hell, he walked once again through the carriage and was assaulted by every passenger but then oddly he found himself in a deserted Liverpool Street Station. The passengers he murdered queued down the ramp into a blinding white light, he tried following them but couldn't.

"This is train is ours, find your own way home" Said a bald-headed man as he punched Mitchell to the ground.

"He doesn't have one anymore, do you Mitchell?" A voice called out, Mitchell's heart sank as he was face with the scowling face of Lauren.

They sat in the waiting area, just the two of them – Mitchell dressed in a grey top and dark jeans and Lauren in a heavy jacket, beanie hat and Cat boots...like she was ready to backpack somewhere.

"Maybe I was hasty with my farewell, I missed so much I could have been daisy and maybe keep you on that dark side a little longer"

"Get the boat! One and Thirty years verses what six months, get away from me Lauren" Mitchell sulked in his defeatist fashion.

"What I don't get is out of all the foes you ever had, you get sucker-punched by a girl planting love that was never in your head. Vampires are known for sexual prowess yet to abstain for the supposed love of a ghost?" Lauren was laughing wildly now, bitterness still etched deep in her soul.

"It was love, it _is_ love" Mitchell grimaced

"Don't bullshit me, see I know you – you had an agenda, that little speech about being in love with being the saviour is the nearest to the truth you've ever been. FACT" Lauren nudged him mockingly then nestled her head against his shoulder. Mitchell was uncomfortable he could so easily loved this woman had it not been for Herrick and all the chaos that came after.

"What are you, a bored security guard? Since when did purgatory have CCTV cameras for the real world?" Mitchell groaned before trying to indulge her for old time's sake.

"We're all slaves to love Mitchell; trouble is who the slave is and who is the master? You have taken out more people than that squad team yet you put the bottle down and let them arrest you – Slave. You tell Annie exactly what she wants to hear and not what you feel – Master...It's sad Mitchell."

John Mitchell shot up from the chair and licked the proverbial rawest wound he had, the possible manipulation of Annie's feelings.

"You know nothing, we love each other, he couldn't have happened at a worse time but we loved each other!" He balked and raged at her and raised a pointed finger.

"No you needed something to make you feel better, you used her to convince yourself – failing miserably of course – that you could still be human by trying to love someone, you can't do it Mitchell!" Lauren roared back, jealousy envy bitterness all proving a potent mix.

"I get it now, this is part of my punishment, to remind me of things that I might have forgotten about well I haven't! Annie is my better half; if my life's breath wasn't taken Ninety-four years ago every single intake would have been be for her happiness so fuck you Lauren!" Mitchell was tearing up and his voice was cracking, his Dublin accent coming as thick as solid rock.

"The difference is her soul once she crosses can begin again, yours can't" Lauren grinned as she stood up and took a rucksack.

"We'll see" Mitchell snarled

"The storm is breaking or so it seems, we're too young to reason too grown up to dream...

Lauren looked back over her shoulder and smiled

"Slave to love, na-na-nana-na-na...Slave to love. You can't escape, you're a slave to love" Lauren sang, one more dig at her ex lover before she left. Swaggering off to the platform of light where her soul would enter heaven and begin anew somewhere else.

Back on Earth chaos was organising itself around Honolulu Heights as the new parents reluctantly embarked on their first full moon. Unfortunately John was showing signs of his werewolf heritage by his eyes flickering from blue to amber.

"Why amber why not green like your dad's or blue like mine why amber?" Nina stammered in a panic.

"They say after six weeks a lion cub's turn amber, it's just a symptom Nina he isn't changing are you little John?" Annie shrugged then cooed at the agitated baby.

"Do I look like Saba Hamilton-Smith? Is this Big Cat Diary, no it's not...I'm having a breakdown my boy is not a werewolf, he can't be!" Nina burst into tears but it was more of a strop than anything, John was a perfectly healthy baby otherwise.

George rolled his eyes and hugged the anxious mother before giving over her bag and forcing her out the door.

"Annie I love you for doing this, you're a star and I really would like to play a bit-part in Godmothering but I refuse, absolutely REFUSE for my son being called 'Little John'. There are no Robins in my family I don't like the colour green and we're nowhere near Nottingham hmm?" George feigned a smile and nodded Annie giggled and nodded back.

George lingered for a few seconds more to watch his boy, he would stir soon for the night, George blew him a kiss. He then remembered the nickname he would dedicate to avoid at all costs.

"Hmm" George left and slammed the door.

"I don't young one, it's not looking good for you – J.J's out cause you're not Mitchell's junior, John-boy is out as we don't live in the south" Annie explained cheerily, John stirred and looked up at Annie.

"Who cares because you're lovely, yes you are!" She teased in a childish voice.

The next few hours however didn't prove to be as lovely as she thought, not only were John's eyes were still amber but he had a strange cry that night...almost as if he was baying. Annie had known the unusual for a while now, as crazy is as crazy does. So wrapping him up as tightly as she could the ghost took him out in the terrace and rocked him to sleep. Looking up at the satellite she grinned and jigged her legs from side to side and began singing.

"Blue moon, you saw me standing a-lone without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own" Annie laughed at the absurdity but it appeared to be working well as a lullaby.

She was too absorbed in the duty of care to know she was being watched in the shadows by a group of distinguished vampires fronted by Wyndham...

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**I'm bad I know, I hate cliffhangers and here I am making one! Gives the incentive to read more doesn't it? mwhahahaa!**


	4. Wyndham And The Wolf

**Well we got it all going on in this chapter, my muse was concentrating v. hard so I hope you enjoy it and of course review! **

**P.S I hope people didn't get offended by the twilight remark, I'm not a fan but if it floats your boat that's fine! Everyone has an opinion! **

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I see a devil moon rising, I see trouble on the way..." The elder iterated every word as a stark and sadistic warning to Annie who had up to now felt confident in taking care of young John. Instinctively she clutched the baby closer to her chest and backed away.

...Don't go out tonight for it's _bound_ to take your life, there's a bad moon on the rise" The vampires crept towards her home and looked around for witnesses. But then what would that do? Only add to the fun of course.

"You're not invited, I may be dead but as long as somebody says it then you must oblige, right?" Annie was panic-stricken and clutched the baby, the boy was stirring he knew something was up. Wyndham's bodyguards stopped in the middle of the hill, their chief simply lifted his foot off the ground, he looked up at Annie who was looking at the raised leg.

To her horror Wyndham crossed the threshold when the others couldn't and strode towards her, the ghost kept backing away. Baby John started to cry Annie shook her head furiously.

"No," She cried

"Just to sate curiosity my dear, see there were a lot of people counting on fur and tiny howling, but there's none. Some have lost the bet, they won't believe me of course unless I take him" Wyndham raised his hands towards Annie.

"I was no fan of chess I won't be your pawn Wyndham!" She spat.

The immortal sighed and shook his head.

"Simple, silly Annie... you don't have a choice" .

"Oh yes I do" Annie smirked. The room started to tremble

Wyndham was then subsequently hit by every heavy object Annie could find; vases, glasses, chairs, nails ripped from hanged pictures and portraits. Eventually he retreated back outside.

"I am beyond your understanding and comprehension Annie; I am from beings that have lurked in the shadows since man made fire. Your feelings for Mitchell will not save the wolves..._any_ of them"

Wyndham felt a crack in the pavement and was slammed into the wall of the house opposite; he was incensed as he wiped the glass away from his face. He stood against the narrow pillar on the wall and whispered with malice intent.

"I don't like to be offended or delayed, you're doing both my strange little girl" The old one wagged his finger.

Suddenly the others became wary and looked around for an unseen foe. A figure stood between Annie and the vampires, the boy was in mid-transformation...It was the werewolf Tom McNair. The teen stumbled as he tried to keep the balance of an upright human but was being beat down by the emerging lycanthropy.

"Don't come any closer" Tom's eyes, hair growth and teeth were changing; his words were muffled by the canine teeth.

"Ah here's the little mutt whose lost his daddy, how much is that doggy in the window? Ruff ruff" Wyndham guffawed and bent down to the boy and made a little yelp.

"I SAID LEAVE!" Tom choked, his voice box was being stretched and then crushed and the temples of his head became arched, as were his feet and ankles.

"Listen up lad, you're a stray now that the one who protected you is gone, I could kill you much like throwing a puppy in a canal. You can leave now or you will die now" The old one warned as he flexed his own fangs.

"Tom, Mitchell stopped you before for a reason, your Dad wouldn't want this" Annie pleaded. Tom was confused as and as reason was ebbing away lost to the mind of a beast.

"But you'll be alone" He whimpered, baying almost like John who was now hysterical. Annie then revealed a secret fear that even when she met the worst then the best of men she still carried with her every day.

"I was always alone Tom, before meeting the boys before my death...tonight's no different." Annie lamented Tom foolishly decided to prove his worth anyway, he grabbed the vampire as half a human but the forest prince would soon arrive. He used his agony as a focal point of strength and took the elder by surprise as he pinned the vampire down.

The cronies joined in and soon a brawl broke out, one only predators knew; lions and hyenas battling for a kill, bear mauling another bear. From the tumble of feet and kicking legs and ripped jackets there were grunts, snorts and snarls. Tom slashed blindly at his foes and the blows they did land, Wyndham was so enraged he picked the boy up and raised him above his head.

"STOP THIS!" Annie screamed her body vibrated and a crack appeared at her feet, trailing all the way down towards the fight. The Earth shook underneath them, both sides blown apart by an invisible blast. Wyndham was grabbed and pinned against the house that stood opposite the BNB.

The irony was that he was pinned almost like Christ; he seethed and tried to fight back the powerful weight that had no real solid mass. His black eyes turned grey instead of black and veins starting streaming across his forehead.

"I am appalled by this insult, you have no idea what I'm capable of" Wyndham hissed.

"No, you don't know what _I'm _capable of" Annie retorted fiercely.

Wyndham was released; he fell hard into the cracked ground, panting like a maniac he nodded at Annie.

"Stay tuned for a sequel will be coming near you...very soon" With that the elder disappeared along with his henchmen. Annie looked about for evidence of his swift exit; chillingly there was none to be found. For a nano-second she was relieved but she forgot one thing...

...Tom McNair

The lad was amid screaming his pain like a human and howling like a werewolf, he was barely registering his name, his sense of safety, his own mind.

"Tom, Tom listen to my voice, follow me...Follow me Tom!" Annie demanded Tom was forced to crawl, his bones twisting, convulsing and expanding.

Annie had never felt so terrified in all her life, John could not go to purgatory with her or teleport with her. Would the vampires return, would they destroy the house with John in it, would Tom?

Shuffling down the hallway, Annie realised the snarling was getting worse; he was almost fully Lycan now. She focused as hard as she could and opened the cellar door. Poor tom fell down the stairs like he was a sled. Annie took the time to wail and sob with shock before slamming the table, the chairs and cabinet towards the cellar door.

Where it would be rattled and slashed and slammed against till morning.

Annie rocked John back and forth as she slid to the floor and cried.

The next day two oblivious lovers were lying stark naked in the ruins of an old church, George regaining his humanity with Nina at his side was his favourite thing in the world, that crack in his heart over her betrayal was always glossed over where this morning was concerned.

"What would you like as a wedding song?" George sighed as he stroked Nina's face.

"Have we ever properly danced together? We don't have a song do we, Maria McKee Show me heaven?" Nina panted in her recovery.

"What about Dog Days are over Florence and the Machine?" George teased

"I can't stay away from you, Gloria Estefan" Nina persisted

"People are Strange, The Doors" George giggled but it was a nervous giggle as his lips were quivering.

"George...Is this you proposing?" Nina asked with a blank expression on her face, George was silent then played with a curl of Nina's hair and nodded.

Taking his bag he rummaged through the contents, then out came a diamond solitaire ring. Still without a word he placed it on her finger. The question didn't need asking, there were times when words were just not enough, he blubbed a little as they both stared at one another. Nina nodded and George smiled before kissing her. They dressed and held hands as they walked back to civilisation but in the air something felt very wrong.

"The baby...The baby, George the baby...!" Nina cried, the frantic parents ran for home, not caring if their agility was too much to be that of a human's.

George burst into the house to find scratches on the wall, cracks in the pavement and Tom McNair and Annie hugging each other.

"He was here again wasn't he?" George grimaced

Annie Nodded

"Did he come for my son...?" George sulked, tears flowing from his eyes as Nina raced to the nursery.

"Tom protected us as best he could" Annie replied wearily. George gasped in relief as Nina came back with John, the werewolf cradled his family. For the first time Annie saw things as they really were, a family unit and one lonely ghost.

George shook his hand, then grabbed his shoulders in a gesture of solidarity.

"Stay, as long as you like and thank you...What's with the damage to the road?" George asked once he dealt with Tom.

"That was me pulling a strop, 'nobody's going near my Godson' I told him" Annie smiled but it fell and was replaced by a frown.

"How?"

"Doesn't matter does it? What matters is we're all safe" Annie replied diplomatically, Nina was unconvinced.

"How...Annie?" For the first time Nina was subjected to the bitter depth of Annie's heartache.

"By friends from the other side, who should not be there but are there still out of lack of choice and lack of wanting to stay at all" Annie was overwhelmed and was sobbing, George ran into a hug and she held him tightly.

"I need a time-out okay, I just need to breath or not as the case may be" She tried to make a joke but could not so disappeared.

Lying down on the waiting room sofa Mitchell felt a wave of anguish and stood up and started to walk quickly.

"You can't do it Mitchell..." Josie warned appearing from nowhere as he first saw her, radiant and strong in spirit.

"Sweetheart nothing is going to stop me, Annie needs me, I'm sorry but I love her too much to be told what to do now" Mitchell pleaded as he strode up to the first woman who wandered into the darkness and brought back John Mitchell, the man.

"They won't let you go, you can't help your friends anymore Mitchell" Josie answered sombrely, fearfully. Mitchell turned back to her.

"...Who are they?"

"The lawmakers here, the ones who were misled into thinking they took a bad spirit from that lab" Josie replied, barely looking at the Irishman in the eye she was so afraid for him.

"The ones that took Annie, what do they want with me?" Mitchell inquired cautiously

"You wanted punishment, you come here, you want to help your friends, you wish to go back. You know that's not possible my darling" Josie sighed

"I'm not going back I just want to see them safe, to see Annie safe" Mitchell concluded

"If you break the rules this place abides by you will deal with consequences nobody can protect you from...Please"

Mitchell smirked and kissed Josie's forehead although a little nervous now.

"You obviously don't know my people, The Irish are rebellious by nature – before politics and struggles of all sides we have always lived exactly how we liked and live by one rule...Rules are meant to be broken" Mitchell chuckled and ran as fast as he could.

Annie found herself in a suburban street, where narrow maisonettes lined the road; she looked around for a guide. But there was nobody around she spied a hilltop where a tall figure with black hair was walking towards her.

John Mitchell paused before beaming a huge smile at her, Annie ran like the wind into his arms. Both were laughing and crying at the same time.

"Forgive me, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I let you down like that" He lamented

"I knew I'd find you...Oh we're in such trouble without you...I should be with them but I don't care I had to see you just once!" Annie chortled

"You deserved better than what I did to you, I swore I'd never be another Owen to you...I'm sorry" Mitchell clung to Annie so tight, her arms swarmed all over him.

"I honestly thought it was for the best but it's not...It's not!" Annie gushed

They kissed and consumed themselves in that wave of emotion known in a reunion but then it wasn't a reunion ordinary people know.

The scenery changed from outdoors to a quiet living room, crochet blankets were everywhere, a very modest table and a brown sofa. A coal-fire was smoking in the grate.

"Welcome to the illusion of my childhood home Annie" Mitchell said sheepishly

An antique clock complete with brass pendulum was creaking loudly on the wall. The photo of a bearded man with a suit stood next to a portly woman hung on the wall, a gramophone and piano sat in the corner,

Annie gushed in awe at the timelessness of the place, In jeans and T-shirt he could walk down a road and be part of the Mtv twenty-something generation. When the truth was a horrific one, he was part of the 'lost' generation from the war 'to end all wars'.

With a few pauses he took her by the hand into a sparse and simple bedroom with one cabinet, and one dresser with a wash basin.

"It's so strange, kids these days share a bed for fun, slumber parties and stuff...top and tails wasn't a choice, you'd sleep like that because there was no other room or bed" He said sadly.

"It looks posh but I was a lot poorer than what this place shows...but I was happy" Mitchell choked back tears, Annie clasped his hand. Mitchell noticed her hold was whole, solid, she was really there with him.

They stared at each other hesitant of the next move and all the other moves after that that was part of something they couldn't share on Earth.

Kisses were slow and hesitant, passion was ignored for a good while, it wasn't everything, being in the moment was. Nerves were shattering their uneven levels of confidence but they persisted with it. Annie remembered what Lawrence Cross had told her and applied it for the here and now. She slowly slipped off Mitchell's jacket as he smoothed off one corner of her cardigan and then the other. Mitchell raised his arms and unceremoniously laughed as Annie took off her T-shirt and brushed against a tickle spot. Composure quickly returned as Annie was now the one to undress. Pulling her white T-shirt over her head her vulnerability made Mitchell's heart swell up.

They stood in front of his bed semi-naked from the waist up, Mitchell in his jeans, Annie in her bra and leggings.

"In all honesty, how are you with all this?" Annie stammered awkwardly, Mitchell combed his fingers through her hair the way he used to and with a glad heart uttered a wonderful truth.

"I feel good, this feels natural, I love you and you love me and...That's that" Mitchell cooed before embracing her and kissing her, fervently this time.

He was gentler and more patient than Owen, more tender and affectionate than the pervy Rick, more compassionate and passionate then all her lovers combined. She couldn't stop pawing his face; he couldn't stop showering her with slow kisses. He towered over her and wondered if it was Annie was the one he had been waiting for all his life – living or undead – that mad, mythical 'one' that people harped on about. The passion was slow-burning then wild before it crashed down in sweat and exhaustion.

"I don't want to be anywhere else, I should be with them but I'm scared and I can't protect everyone by myself John I can't do it!" Annie cowered and she fell into his arms, he held her tight and raised the blankets over them. He remembered Josie's warning and felt another sacrifice looming only this time he would fight, _this time he would win_

"You won't be alone...I promise" Mitchell pledged he kissed her hard the prospect of the 'lawmakers' confrontation making him hold Annie even tighter.

"...I Promise"

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**It saddens me greatly that we are not going to get anything like this should Aidan refuse to be back for the final season whenever that may be!**


	5. Leaders Of The Pack

**HEY, me again - the story should be picking up the pace pretty soon, I'm tempted to to eight chapters like the length of a series but I'll have to see what needs writing about. Hope you enjoy, R&R and all that **

**disclaimer: None of this is mine, none that I know of...Can I have John Mitchell though, no? Okay then...**

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There was no euphoria for Annie in knowing after so much turmoil that she could now love and be loved, there was no hidden agenda, no sadomasochistic remark about having to be better, to do better. Despite the confidence car-crash with Owen she never needed a man to make her feel whole. Besides it was too simple a word for how Mitchell made her feel.

She was happy yes but not euphoric

For even Purgatory had price-tags, Annie's was leaving the netherworld without Mitchell for it was far too early for a happy ending: She still had Wyndham to contend with, watch over young John until she was absolutely sure that the trouble was over for good. Then there was George her poor wounded George.

"_Now's not the time to tell him about me" Mitchell replied to Annie's question while drawing circles over her shoulder. _

"_Agreed, I wouldn't know where to start anyway, I saw the look on his face when talking about the cracks in the road like he was unsure of me" Annie said softly as she nestled against her lover's chest _

"_Never, he's unsure about what to do, it's not about you so don't think like that sweetheart" Mitchell cupped her face and stroked Annie's cheek with his thumb. _

"_He didn't like me at first at least he had the front to tell me so" Annie grinned sheepish as she recalled how embarrassingly awkward they were together. _

"_He changed his mind didn't he and why wouldn't he? You're wonderful" Mitchell playfully teased, Annie straddled him and Mitchell sat himself up to be closer to her. Enveloping her in his muscled embrace he knew their time together was nearly over. _

"_One hundred and seventeen years I've lived, I don't think I've ever wanted time to stop more than now" Mitchell heaved as he kissed along her collarbone and neck and exhaled against her beautiful caramel skin. _

"_I can stay as long as you want me too" Annie comforted him with an alluring husk; Mitchell nudged her nose and shook his head. _

"_That would be too long, you and me are for eternity remember? George, John and Nina need you now and I'll be there but only when I have to be" Mitchell warned with great reluctance. _

"_You sound like you know what's coming next" Annie sulked sombrely _

"_I...Have an idea" Mitchell trailed off and just like that wolf-shaped bullet the lawmakers rooted down into his conscience, he was nervous but not as nervous as he was for Annie. _

_He quelled his fear with the love he had for Annie, such impassioned love that he had probably never had for anything before, except for that crimson treasure that had ruled over his life since crawling out from that ditch. Kissing her hard he felt her fingers furiously lace through his hair. She writhed over him, he moaned into her hair. He kissed her neck and was delighted not be so transfixed by the jugular, Mitchell knew then he was really free. _

_After passions peaked and crashed once more they held each other as tight as they could before getting dressed. Annie was left troubled by Mitchell's parting words. _

"_Whatever happens, know that I love you" Mitchell said solemnly, pursing his lips the way he always did when hiding a secret. _

Once again the daze of muddling thoughts took her away from the here and now, a month had passed since the attack on her home. Johnny was growing fine and was now crowned by his mother's thick curls. The trio and a half were standing outside a synagogue. Nin had faced many trials in the year she mat George and still she was daunted by this grand but formidable building.

"Look babe I'm fine with this really, if you want a registry office, It'll be easier if I'm honest, they'll put you through the wringer" George tried to sooth his anxious girlfriend as he held his boy who was being quite exuberant in the use of his limbs.

"The rabbi just knocked me back George, I'm thinking of the next move – a suffragette in a gentleman's club would have been more welcome" Nina sat on the wall and tried to distract herself from her dejection by playing peek-a-boo with her boy.

"All part of the act honey if you're persistent they would let you in by the third try, then they'll know you're serious...yes they will!" George tried to be serious but couldn't for Johnny was busy trying to be part of the conversation through babbling. He smirked then started to jig about with Johnny looking on and giggling.

"So you better knock three times to the rabbi if you wa-ant me, twice more you'll knock and then you're good to go-ooo" George sang, Annie smiled and playfully shoved her friend.

"It's not funny George" Nina sulked

"Awww we're not laughing, are we sweet-pea? Mummy is doing us proud and we're very grateful, yes we are" George talked in his high-pitched childish way whenever things got too much too take, funny or otherwise.

Nina flailed her arms then went back to the entrance of the temple and faced the rejections before finally entering.

"We should find a cafe, she'll be a while" George surmised, Annie crossed her arms and looked at her friend proudly.

"Can't believe you're engaged to be married, so funny how things turn out" Annie replied but the remark was thinly veiled in sadness and George noticed it

"...Some for the better not a lot though, Mitchell's d...Mitchell being... No not for the better at all." George stuttered then stopped in his tracks, giving his best friend's namesake a hug although more to comfort himself then his son.

"He wanted you to do it, nobody on Earth he would have asked to help him that way other than you. To die and be surrounded by friendship and love than violence and hate"

"I know the reason why Annie but it doesn't make me feel any less of a shit for doing it" George seethed at the raw wound and brusquely turned away from her. Pushing the buggy with one hand and holding young John in the other he stomped down the street in a huff.

"Are you ever going to tell me about the night of Wyndham's attack? Or is it going to be like a bad game of charades or give us a clue? Was Lia behind it all?" George's refusal to forgive himself over Mitchell was fuelling his fury over Annie's superpowers.

"It wasn't Lia" Annie stopped in her tracks while George kept on walking; he trudged on for a few more yards then looked around.

"Who then, was it the trainman? Did he tell you to focus and kick beer cans? Or a mystic say like Yoda, 'frighten vampires you will, big mess you make yes" George taunted her before being a little more cruel than intended as he impersonated a croaky Frank Oz.

"...I don't know how to- It was Mitchell George" Annie stammered as was faced with a hard stare of disbelief and hurt.

"Not funny"

"George it's the truth I found him, I needed him and he came to me..." Annie couldn't look him in the eye but crept towards hi step by baby step.

"That's not funny, not only is that not funny but it's on par with Johnny Knoxville, nervous giggling in a hospital, crap best man's speech type funny. What do you mean, you found Mitchell?" He growled at her with tears in his eyes.

"George I love you but I won't be around forever, he wants to make amends before crossing over...that's even if he can." Annie replied as she wrapped up the cardigan.

"Why bother? It's all right for him on the other side, why about us that are in the deep end because of him!" George roared and rammed accusing fingers in mid-air.

"We need all the help we can get George, so what if I smash up some roads? Mitchell is guiding us" Annie snapped

"Wrong, Mitchell is guiding _you_...Big difference, his love for you is what binds him here...It's got fuck all to do with me!" George lamented before openly crying and walking away.

"How can you say that after everything?" Annie said forlornly. Leaning close to her space he whispered a secret weakness that he knew he could share with Annie and nobody else.

"I don't know what I'm doing, Nina is so black and white about everything while I'm stuck in grey shit without my best friend to tell me to pull myself together, wind me up something rotten, Annie...I know sod all about what might happen to any of us" George sniffled a little as he stroked his son's hair, this time Annie let him walk alone with his thoughts

On the far side of the street sat a parked Saab car, two men sat in the front seat, casually with a hippy long hair.

"So the rumours are true, new lycan blood" Said a redhead in the passanger seat.

"Appears to be" said the bald-headed driver

"Introductions are in order then? Time to do your thing Lisbeth" The man called behind him to a crop-haired woman.

Once they got home Annie soon regretted the confession as George bustled about the kitchen much more firmly that glass mugs would allow. He busied himself with the baby milk, busied himself with the clearing up. Her heard the plasma screen buzz and crackle and saw Annie nervously smiling. He placed young John in his Moses basket. He didn't need to look; John Mitchell was staring at him from the screen.

"Let me guess, a new primetime telly channel straight from Purgatory, the John Mitchell show where everything seems bright and breezy...What the fuck was all that trouble for?" He yelled at the screen.

"All my life I've tried to be the brave one but once the fear came I couldn't go on anymore, time for you the be the brave one...and you are brave George" John smiled and nodded as he glimpsed at his anguished friend.

"You might think that you're doing the world of good giving advice from the other side where you can't be harmed but you know what I see...The result of too many afternoons watching Sally Jessie Raphae, that's what I seel!"

"I wanted to say I'm sorry and that I hope you forgive me but more than that you need it George you need to forgive yourself" Mitchell pleaded.

"George don't push us away we can fight back we can, it'll be okay" Annie tried to seek reason but George was too weighed down by guilt.

"Yeah well you two are technically dead so that's a fine thing to say to me Annie...I'm sorry" George stroked her shoulder before placing his anger where it was merited, with Mitchell.

"I've replayed that moment over and over again in my head since it happened it's almost incessant as playing Never mind as a teenager I'm talking...loads here Mitchell" George seethed tears stopped falling instead he wanted to break the screen that held Mitchell's face seeing he couldn't physically break his face. He would yell at him, thrash him. Ask Mitchell how to let the stake go from his hand and ask how he could trust anyone again. Then hug him and mean every second of their solidarity the way he used to.

"We can talk about that some other-"Mitchell was cut off by a knock at the door, George wiped his eyes and answered to a crop-haired woman dressed in a nurse's shirt and tag.

"Elizabeth Roe, I'm a health visitor to see John Michael, see how he's doing how the mum's doing...May I come in?" Said the stranger, George was dubious and stammered his indecision until she gently let herself in.

"Should there be the same one erm, Rachel was it?"

"Sic today I'm afraid, I'm covering for her...so much to do you wouldn't believe" The 'nurse' feigned a chuckle.

Annie went about checking over the girl's belongings for proof, Lisbeth pretended she couldn't see her, the pretence didn't last long. Annie spied a charm of a jet moon on the girl's bag as she looked up Annie caught her gaze and then the penny dropped.

"George, she can see me"

"What"

"She's one of us she can see me" Annie whispered

"What is this, who are you may I ask?" Nina interjected as she walked in from the back door.

"Ah you must be the mother...I'm Elizabeth Roe I'm a health worker.

"No you're not, I've just had my fair share of ruses and nasty surprises...now who are you?" Nina gritted her teeth as she inexplicably felt wary towards this intruder.

"With me, she is with me...Lisbeth sweetheart you'd make a lousy actress, you need to scout territory better than that" The Bald-headed man bellowed George and Nina was thrown but oddly enough unafraid.

"Please Tell me by territory you be the army service" George whined sardonically

"Now Mister Sands you know much better than that now or at least you should travelling to Wales to get away from the heinous crime committed by your friend.

"I'm going to hate asking this but what do you want?" George groaned

"No Mister Sands it's what I can do for you, the name is Vaughn, my bad nurse over there is Lisbeth. Eli's out in the car.

"I don't have anything you want" George said dismissively

"No it appears you don't have anything at all here, except for the ghost here...and the cub. You're going to be looked after now sir"

"Gangs and wide boys say that all the time, which are you from?" Nina balked; Vaughn smiled and sat down on the edge of the sofa.

"Too old to be in either young miss but I guess the pack would do" Vaughn quipped

The room fell silent and George strolled towards him in awe and in trepidation.

"Your quite famous Mister Sands, first parent of werewolf baby in over a two hundred years, see only the animals have packs, the werewolves themselves are loners...we have to be.

"So...what you're like werewolf monks?" Annie said in confusion, Vaughn blushed at the suggestion

"We live by our own terms, always have, we are alone but we're not celibate, if we want a good time we'll have a good time" Vaughn answered mischievously.

"I'll attest to that" Lisbeth teased as she lingered an arm around the Scot's waist.

"You're not taking my child!"

"Ooh you're a jumpy one, can see why people are put off, you seem nice lass but you're too surly for me" The redhead said warily.

Are you another Wyndham, are you another old one?" George stuttered

Am I an old one yes...am I that old, no!" Vaughn chirped. So began the first of his many discussions about the many packs in the world, Annie realised that through Vaughn she could leave her friends safe. She made tea before sneaking back to purgatory and back to Mitchell's arms.

It was a quiet evening but then it was always calmest in the eye of the storm


	6. Gaby & Mike

**...And so my obession continues, this is a new record in how quick I am with my fanfic, writing is my life, any writing whether trying to get noticed by agents or by daydreaming an ending I know won't happen for this pair that we love. It's a BIG chapter with a lot of drama, hope you likey, R&R and enjoy! **

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It turned out that Vaughn was the well of information that George had been searching years for so like McNair Senior before him he became a temporary lodger and like McNair Senior Nina was unsure. It took a while for him to realise that Nina Pickering would never be 100 per cent satisfied with anything. Those from broken homes were forever mending their esteem, their relationships, their own house. There was always a need to try to fix things, George knew that and gave her clemency over betraying the group because of it.

As well as the startling fact that he simply couldn't be without her, ever regardless of the fear and self-loathing that the last year brought. Despite at times being so high and mighty she could live on Mount Everest. Nothing felt as lonely as the moments prior to changing to the werewolf but then Nina was turned as she would hold his hand before the Lycanthropy would steal the reason why.

For that alone he would die for her...

...But that didn't excuse the point of arguments.

George, he's six months old! He's starting to grab at things, I don't want him to be in the wild, what if there's nettles nearby, tents are not warm George...What is Vaughn planning – Wolfstock?" Nina leaned against her bedroom wall and crossed her arms while her fiancé was shoving clothes into a holdall bag.

"I'm not doing yours, you now I hate packing...we're doing this, think of it as brownies!" George wrinkled his nose trying to be diplomatic but he really wanted a pint down the pub.

"I never went, I didn't have the fingers to sew and the uniform loos awful...Can't we just google it?" Nina muttered as she pulled her own bag from the wardrobe.

"Oh yeah I'll go on ask jeeves shall I? See if there's a network for werewolves...Furbook, !" George chucked a t-shirt into the bag and began tapping his fingers in mid-air. Nina made half a grin.

"You're an idiot"

"Correction...I'm _your_ idiot and your my nag...my sexy wonderful, relentless, unrepentant...nag" George teased as he pulled her close to him.

Nina pouted but kissed him anyway, her post-baby body making her awkward and shy. George tugged at the spaghetti strap of her pyjama top and kissed her shoulder possessively and pulled her into a tighter embrace. He arms swarms under the top across her navel and up her back and tried to lead her to the bed. A protest ushered another kiss but she shook her head and pulled away.

"I'm going to check on John"

"He's away with the fairies, when the head hits a pillow we are out for the count, he's a Sands boy alright" George was refusing to give way from seducing his girlfriend without a fight so he playfully pecked her until she relented.

Alas Maternity won as it always would but he followed her to the door and leaned over.

"There's a lake near the camp, we could try a little...skinny-dipping, after the full moon obviously. I don't think the doggy-paddle would be romantic enough would you?"

Nina bit her lip then swiftly left the room and John's murmur became a little wail. George huffed then carried on packing, taunting himself as he started to sing.

"Night swimming..._deserves a quiet night_!"

In the plain between worlds two lovers were wrapped in each other in sweat and heat, matted hair. Frantic kisses and touches as limbs intertwined with limbs as Annie and Mitchell awkwardly made love in a low hammock. A new illusion of purgatory brought them to St Lucia; they both knew the island so the couple didn't really know whose dream it was.

Mitchell cupped Annie's face, his face and shoulders glazed in perspiration, panting heavily he kissed her gently as his energy was all but spent.

"I don't need to move on if it's without you, this is my heaven being here with you...I don't mean because of just now but..." Mitchell grinned bashfully and hoped he didn't project the remark as something shallow. Annie lay beneath him, smiling as she kissed his wet brow as he sank in for a hug.

The hammock swung from side to side as she shifted her body to lie beside him.

"When I died the whole idea of heaven was shattered, the way we see it makes it like a celestial version of Blackpool illuminations. I don't need any of it now I have you" Annie held his head with two hands and combed her fingers through his curls.

Mitchell was drifting off to sleep but Annie's last remark hit home that something was amiss. Vampires were not supposed to know paradise like this and he wondered if heaven was not what you saw but how you felt. Or in his case how Annie was making him feel.

"There's a loophole somewhere...I don't remember purgatory being like this" She said.

Time was irrelevant but they stole it through slow-dancing, dining then a stroll on the beach. Hand-in-hand. Purgatory was present only by the clouded sky and a cold wind blowing.

"So...George trusts this guy Vaughn?" Mitchell quizzed as she learned of the new pack.

"Not completely, he's been hurt too much to trust completely. But he's quite the eager beaver with this bloke. Like he's searching for approval, like from a Dad" Annie shrugged

"That's not good...he might be the tipping point though, it could be what George needs" Mitchell replied as they both sat down on the dune. Annie wrapped an arm around his raised knee and tapped her fingers.

"Peace of mind it was he needs...you have to face him Mitchell" Annie pleaded with a heavy heart.

"I'm stuck here to find redemption, not resurrection darling'" Mitchell shook his head before brushing back Annie's hair from her face.

"No your here via assisted suicide...God I'm sorry, I just would have loved doing all of this still living. You and me going out, lazy Sundays in...maybe a kid" Annie's remark was scathing but then it turned to an insecure daydream.

"_Maybe_ a kid? How about five or six? With you as their Mot there wouldn't have been just the one! I am an Irishman after all" Mitchell chuckled Annie gawped flirtatiously at him.

"What, West-Indian families are not like that then? You ever see Jamaicans with just one child?" Annie giggled.

"Good, great minds think alike, in the next life we'll find each other and have a dozen!" Mitchell took Annie's hands in his and tipped them back and forth. Annie's smile fell and so did her eyes, Mitchell stopped playing once he glimpsed her sadness.

"You think we will...you'll think we'll find each other?" She asked softly as she tried not to cry, Mitchell took her in his arms again and nodded.

"Of course we will"

The comforting kiss was disturbed by a shadow that crept up on the happy couple. Mitchell and Annie sat upright as they faced a young woman wearing a white bikini, white caftan and bleach grey shorts. Her blond hair was partially plaited and beaded.

"Ah sorry, didn't mean to make you jump, didn't expect to see people up here today...I'm looking for someone"

The pair looked around warily as this girl appeared from nowhere, they stood up holding reach other's hand.

"No, no I'm sorry, we haven't been here long but we haven't seen...anybody"

"He's probably seeing to business...I'm Gaby but the way, nice to get away somewhere isn't it?"

"Gaby, I'm Annie this is Mitchell, it's so nice to meet up with another girl!" Annie gushed; Mitchell placed his hands on his hips and just smiled.

"Ah yes it's lovely, are you two together so nice, young love eh? Nothing like it" Gaby cooed, Mitchell squinted as he saw what looked like bits of flower pollen float around her

Annie hugged Mitchell and he hugged back they smiled in the way lovers do when proudly making that first acknowledgement that yes they were in love. Yet Mitchell was still perplexed about this 'Gaby'

The girl small-talked out of the dunes and back down the passage towards their hut, Mitchell simply kept silent but remained chivalrous as he took Annie's arm. He noticed Gaby's caftan was ribbing at her spine and saw the flecks were getting bigger almost looking like tiny...

"Gaby, there you are! We have a lot of work to...Oh I guess not" Called out a six-foot Adonis figure wearing nothing but white trousers and a blue-coloured necklace. His bulging left bicep even had a tattoo

...It was of a sword.

"Mike, what kept you? I've made friends. This holiday is exactly what we needed!" Gaby shrilled as she flung her arms over him. She leaned against him rather like a friend than a lover.

"We work a lot...and we'll work even harder should you-know-who know about you-know-what!" Mike said sternly, Gaby forcefully kissed him on the lips.

"Relax sweetheart, I can handle this" She seethed quietly

"...We have a crisis at work you see, someone who was supposed to be promoted to other things has left us dangling over what to do. He keeps changing his mind on a whim, it's undermining us" Gaby explained with exasperation.

"We feel rather stupid, see the boss isn't happy...we've been working so hard for so long and along comes Mister Indecisive." Mike added

"Sounds like a handful, maybe he wants another job" Annie shrugged

"He can't do that without due process, He's poor at deciding on things" Gaby sulked

"We should be getting back, we have...things to do at home, don't we honey?" Mike chirped

"How long have you to known each other?" Mitchell croaked to which the couple roared with laughter.

"Far, far, far too long...feels like millennia!" Gaby feigned a hearty chuckle, Mitchell noticed.

"We're like that sometimes, turned out well in the end though." Annie beamed with pride at her beloved.

"Yeah I imagine you have so much hope and expectation...breaking away to find love...It's a lovely thing, though can be quite messy" Gaby nodded

She was pulled away by Mike, Mitchell watched as the two argued further up the road.

"Well that was weird, didn't expect to meet people here" Mitchell squirmed uneasily in the wicker chair as Annie brought out some ice tea.

"You'd be surprised, I met quite a few characters while trying to find you" Annie raised her eyebrows and poured the jug, laughing and shaking her head as she thought of Vinnie.

"And..."

"Nothing, very helpful, very colourful I think one met his maker through McNair but he didn't seem peeved about it" Annie shrugged, her lover knowingly smirked.

"So would you say they were placid?" Mitchell asked prompting Annie to laugh out loud.

"Oh, most definitely not...!" Annie snickered

"Was they Handsome, pretty?" Mitchell persisted with the teasing even though he knew the mystery man; he had known him for a very long time.

"I would say unconventional but my God those eyes were blue, I'm talking the Newman/O'Toole league here" Annie said thoughtfully. Mitchell frowned as she became a little too exuberant.

"Vinnie you little shite I wanted you to leave her alone" He mumbled and sulked in his jealousy.

"Vinnie, you mean you know him?"

"Of course I know him, you don't forget a bloke like Vinnie – we fought against Nazi Germany together...he wasn't all there in the head though" Mitchell grimaced, Annie Kneeled in front of him and tucked his hair over his left ear. Mitchell grabbed her hand and placed it against his face.

"You didn't answer my question...You set him up to help me didn't you?" The girl grinned

"Wish I bleedin' hadn't now, back in the forties women were fawning over the eejit, proving that looks weren't everything. He could jitterbug better than anyone I'd ever seen – of course you'd fall for him!" He groaned childishly.

"You are jealous, you are jealous" Annie chirped, Mitchell was about to reply when Annie swooped in for a kiss. Then pecked out her innocence while making butterfly kisses.

"You have...nothing...to be jealous of...he's a friend, a likeable guy...but I'm sorry you're mine and you're stuck with me!" As Annie played on Mitchell stopped sulking and smiled into the kisses. But desire took over as he noticed she was rubbed his knees and thighs.

When she leaned in again he held her close to him and made the kisses linger, the playing was over. Running his hand against her neck he snaked the other under her t-shirt and kneeled down beside her.

They made love there on the patio. Annie would hold him close and then leave again after assuring Mitchell that Vaughn really was on their side. Later he would drink his ice tea and glance at Annie's cup. Feeling nervous over George's expedition, he would be vulnerable out there...

"Hello again, thought I'd come by and see how you were finding the place?" Gaby returned and once again making nice a little too bombastically than Mitchell liked.

"Yes we are- that is I mean I am it's lovely yeah...So you're a rep of some sort, a holiday rep for purgator?" Mitchell looked about him

"Ha-ha, no I'm a long, long way from my real job – I'm really skiving see this rogue that I lost will get me in a heap of trouble with the governor, the big cheese, my boss. He, he's not very happy"

"You're quite the jobs worth aren't you, I'm sorry I don't mean t be rude, he should be happy to have people so dedicated?" Mitchell mused as he leaned over the front gate. The girl had white clear shades on; the pollen was back and a dozen shiny clips in her hair, almost in a triangular or circular fashion

_In fact it looked a lot like..._

"Not today, he's not happy that this one little rascal had turned our work ethic upside down, he's letting emotions effect the transition...it's not looking good"

"Ah so he's a frisky rebellious soul, nothing wrong with that" Mitchell smile but Gaby's eyes seem to sparkle when he uttered the word 'soul'. The wind picked up and she leaned into his space.

"Rebellion is no good in a place like this, it's dangerous, if we don't sort him out they will be...others who will" Gaby whispered anxiously.

"I'm sure he knows that..." Mitchell stammered Gaby looked sullen almost admitting defeat to something.

"He hasn't got the first idea about it" She sighed.

The gravel of the car park crunched and skidded beneath their feet, it was a long drive, two Saabs, two jeeps, one camper van and a beetle sped down the motorway. George had to forsake the Morris Minor for a baby-friendly car – It was a tough deal.

"Please give this a chance, or a smidgen of an open mind Nina I'm all out of ideas. If we need play carry on camping to keep Johnny safe then we're gonna carry on camping" George sighed wearily as he took the bags and followed a dishevelled Lisbeth to the forest clearing.

The pathway was narrow and the area was glistening in the green gloom of the trees. Nina had Johnny in a hassock and shook his hand.

"Yes Daddy, anything you say Daddy but if they start seeing coomb bya my lord – we're going home, yes, without a moment's thought yes. Daddy can walk home after getting his first camping badge, yes!"

"Alright, alright I get the message!" George moaned the couple were pleasantly surprised as they found pagoda tents and two large camp fires, three port-a-loos and a caravan at the back.

"Christ what's this, Pontins for werewolves, is Captain Croc coming or are we gonna have our own mascot?" George quipped in awe; Nina conducted a complete emotional U-turn and ended up squeezing against her fiancé's shoulder.

The songs on hand were thankfully not of the hippy, religious variety but mainly good 'uns like The Kinks Autumn Almanac, Cat Stevens Sing out, George was overjoyed at the kinship.

Later that evening the couple lay together under their canopy, their son snug and asleep in his Moses basket.

"I'm surprised Annie didn't follow us, she would have liked all this I think, being out and about after..." Nina was stroking George's back when he suddenly went rigid; he lay back and looked at her, stony-faced.

"Annie's with Mitchell honey"

"What, how Mitchell's dead, don't do this to yourself Mitchell's dead"

"There dead, dead and then there's dead – Mitchell's just dead, between worlds, in purgatory" George warbled as he placed his hands together, Nina shot up.

"You know this how? Why would Annie want to be with him after everything?" Nina growled

"...Because they love each other, have done for as long as I've known them, I've denied my friends many things but I can't get in their way over this I won't" George said sternly.

"What Mitchell did was inexcusable, I don't believe he loved Annie I don't believe he could love anyone!" Nina spat, ferocious in her whispering as her son slept beside them

"You don't know him like I do, you see nothing but fangs and black eyes and bloodlust but for twenty-four years he was human, I knew him as he once was, so does Annie..." George sat up and became the man he knew he could be once his back was up...and his back was up.

"What and I don't, I never saw past his selfish self-destructive ways because of being so in love with you?" Nina crossed her arms defensively.

"No offense sweetheart but I don't think you ever did see him, you see whatever you want to see. Herrick is a sterling example" George mocked

"Don't you dare bring that up, we almost lost John because of that bastard!"

"Mitchell could have protected us from all of that, that whole squad would still be human instead of now being vampires, quite possibly working for Wyndham" George stood up and took Nina outside.

"Are you seriously selling Mitchell as a necessary evil? SERIOUSLY Are you saying that because they're dead that Annie and Mitchell know more about love than we ever could?" Nina roared

"We would have had our brains crushed and dried out all for the sake of a sick science if it wasn't for him...You forget far too easily Nina!"

"What about you with him and the box tunnel twenty unless – you knew all the time didn't you?"

"I befriended the human remnant of Mitchell that fiend in the tunnel wasn't him, it was poisonous and dark but I've known darker. 'Uncle Billy' had human farms...for his faction he collected humans to feed off of. This is why no matter what I needed Mitchell!" George screamed his rage and his grief at the indirect cause of it all. Nina was devastated to realise he hadn't forgiven her.

"You need him more than me it looks like" She lamented then sobbed and headed for the lake.

By midnight everyone was in bed, waiting for the full moon that would come the next day. Nina was still missing, George eventually found her on the jetty. Silently he sat beside her and shook his head.

"I could say it a thousand times over, more than there are stars up there, I could prove it in every way imaginable but I don't think you've ever believed it." He said quietly.

"Believe what George"

"That I would die for you, not just as in you and Johnny...But you, you had a right to hate me and be sick at the thought of me once I scratched you and that's okay, you were entitled to that"

Nina began sobbing but listened in.

"Herrick told a lie, the worst possible lie I've ever heard, he said you were dead and like that my world imploded. Mitchell was at my side and at that moment I didn't care...all I wanted was you" George started crying as Nina leaned over for a hug.

There's no choice with you and Mitchell, my life began when he befriended me after my attack when I was so scared I'd never befriend anyone ever again. It started with Mitchell but my life is gonna end with you and our boy" George sniffled. Nina kissed him passionately, his relief came in waves.

They tore each other's clothes off and lay against the jetty, Nina then stopped and stood up before discarding the last of her clothes, she jumped into the lake.

"Well come on then" She said shyly, George smiled then dive-bombed in after her.

...It would be a very cold anxious walk to their tent.

It turned out that Vaughn and Lisbeth although not married had adopted a ward; Ava was a teenager, a completely normal human who had werewolves as foster parents. She was appointed baby-sitter as the day of the full moon drew on.

The transformation began and George was at peace with it at last as he now had his very own pack, he was determined to bring Tom next time but the boy would always visit his father's grave. George was assured guards were all around them but he heard cries and thuds.

His heart stopped as his saw Wyndham with a vampire posse of fourteen strong holding ropes, leashes and nets. Bending over in agony he took Nina's Hand and grabbed the Moses basket with his crying boy and ran up the pass. He screamed the girl's name, Nina began to howl it.

"AVA!" George was in excruciating pain as the girl raced towards them with three bewildered children...Three perfectly _normal_ children.

"Ava don't be afraid of me, we're not Lycan yet, take our son...hide him, in the gully go!" George urged, however he didn't bank on the girl being pounced on. George and Nina cried in protest.

Wyndham was right behind her.

"You're lucky I've already dined, I still like the snapping sound of a broken neck though...You're coming with me Georgie-boy" Wyndham snarled.

An unrecognisable Vaughn raced towards them but Wyndham knocked him out cold.

"You do realise if you were a dog you'd be put down now?" A vampire hissed at him

George had tears in his amber eyes and could barely communicate, he cupped his fiancée's check with his gnarled hands then ran blindly at the vampire who had his son and Nina followed behind. They were greeted by nets and chains. The camp was set alight; Ava and Vaughn were left to live.

Many were not so lucky...Including Lisbeth.

Meanwhile in the illusion of paradise Mitchell heard a crack of thunder and heard Annie sobbing in the wind. He had such an awful sense of dread and began to run screaming out their names.

"George, Annie, ANNIE!" Mitchell yelled and he ran into a white-out not knowing what would be on the other side...Back to his friends he hoped

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**Oooh yes very heavy on the drama...Phew!**


	7. Let Justice Be Done

**This is a LONG chapter, I never usually have my chapter engths so uneven but you go wherever muse takes you - I wrote 25 chapters once! Mad, mammoth story that was! The title is of course the first part of 3X07 ep name. I was going to go for something else but never mind. I hope it brings the tension to that level anyway! Read and review ENJOY!**

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John Mitchell was running blind, his eyes were wide open but there was nothing but white, there was no concrete underfoot, no trees and no buildings on any familiar streets. His body was tensing up as a great force was trying to pull him back. He felt it clench around his rib cage and felt his shoulder muscles flex back. But still he pressed on for the thought of his second family spurred him on.

Yes indeed they were a family, dysfunctional and awkward but loyal as all families should be. He found a brother in George as brave as humble as the ones he fought with. If he found Ivan before Daisy did he easily could have been part of the fold. An odd unit they would have made, chatting over tea and the real hustle, how easier life would be if there really was a Night Watch in the world. Nina barraged her way in of course but at least George had someone at his side now for better or worse...and Nina often dealt and inflicted worse, but then that was none of Mitchell's affair.

Annie Sawyer was

Even now almost a year since she was taken from them Mitchell still couldn't tell if he felt her be taken through simple paranormal activity or if she really was a soul-mate. For that moment hurt, it hurt like hell almost as if his heart and soul were a piece of paper being ripped in two. It wasn't an ache as such but a burning sensation, the very core of him stripped, cut

_Halved_

That was the moment he realised how much he loved Anne, the crossing of that threshold between the platonic and the passionate love. It irked him how powerful love was when he was on the brink of killing Lucy only to be stopped by Annie's exorcism and just like that the vengeance disappeared as he raced to save her. He could just about take his friends turning their back on him; his constant guilt over Lauren...A world without Annie was something Mitchell was refusing to happen.

"Turn back, John Mitchell turn back, you will stay were you were placed to stay from the very beginning!" A female voice called out, still Mitchell kept racing.

"I'm going to help my friends, you can do what you want with me after that but I'm going back and you can't stop me!" Mitchell was panting now, he was running but still without direction, mileage and more importantly scenery.

"You defy us now like you have done previously and you no longer have our protection or the anonymity prompted by purgatory...Do you Understand John? Those that want you will take you...by force" A figure came out of the light and floated above him, her long blonde hair billowed in the wind. Feathers from her wings were streaming across her body. Mitchell was suspect from the moment he saw her and called her on it.

"I should be flattered really, heaven and hell fighting over little old me, either one of you can have me after I save George and Annie first. Is that okay with you Gabrielle, hmm? Would you mind passing it on to your Michael please?" Mitchell huffed.

"So be it, humans are such deluded creatures, you think five hundred thousand years has made you wise in knowing your place in the universe...You know nothing!" The archangel was furious and disappeared in a gold light but her profession demanded persistence, she hoped that whatever happened, this soul would not be lost for good.

Mitchell felt a rush of air and finally his timberland boots found tarmac and broken pavements as he raced up to the familiar hill up the steps and through the door of Honolulu Heights.

"Annie, Annie where are you?" Mitchell frantically roared, Annie appeared at the top of the stairs looking rightfully bewildered but she managed to murmur his name before rushing down the stairs. Mitchell twirled her around in his arms, groped her curls, held her head, kissed her forehead her nose then her lips – Annie was quivering.

"Listen to me, we're going to find them but you have to teach me I need a crash course in telekinesis you need to be strong love, please" Mitchell held her arms as Annie kept on blubbering.

"I heard him call my name and then I heard a howl, I went to the source and there was blood on the bushes and tents were burning and I saw b-bodies. What if George is-"

"He's not, I know he's not! We're going to find them" Mitchell soothed his lover with an Eskimo kiss – nose to nose to provoke intimacy and above all calm for both of them, it did the trick.

"W-what about you, how are you here? They will take you back Mitchell or worse...the ones that took me will come for you" Annie gasped.

"It's a price worth paying now come on, we've got work to do" Mitchell answered her sternly

It was truly a bizarre thing, creaks and the continual sound of breaking glass at two in the morning but such was the practise of Mitchell's rushed reunion into the real world. It turned out he was a quick learner as he started smashing up several mugs, one floorboard and a mirror...almost.

"...Seven years bad luck!" Annie shrieked as the glass rippled within it's brass frame, Mitchell just smirked egotistically.

"Babe we're both dead, I've feared worse things besides luck and anyway...you're my luck charm" He said as he concentrated on tipping over books and papers and blowing curtains around.

"... Don't you already have the luck of the Irish?" Annie pouted as Mitchell's ways of flattery probably took him everywhere and back again. Mitchell poked at a pink scent candle but it didn't move he tried with two fingers and focused. Not only did he manage to push the candle but grab it in his hand as it fell off the counter.

"Whoever the hell gave the world that impression needs a kick up the arse, the Irish are the Irish simple as that" Mitchell wheezed while straightening up, he looked and Annie and smiled triumphantly, Annie nodded then frowned before taking his hand.

"We should go" Annie said anxiously, Mitchell squeezed her hand then drew her in for a hug as he remembered Lauren's stinging attack

'_Her soul can cross over but not yours' _

His future was not set yet but peeving off two archangels decreased his chances somewhat

Annie took Mitchell's arm then teleported into the wood_ w_here chaos reigned less than three hours earlier. It was lucky the camp was in a clearing for half the forest would have been ablaze by now. The cars were left in the parking space, clothes were scattered everywhere. Mitchell noticed one of George's cheque shirts in the undergrowth. Then he saw the body of a woman in her late thirties.

"Lisbeth, she tried passing her off as a nurse get to Johnny" Annie mourned before her body began to shake again, Mitchell took to her side but it wasn't to comfort her, it was to protect her.

Though they were dead chivalry was a law of a gentleman he couldn't denounce much to Annie's delight, in fact it was the very first thing she loved him for.

"Wyndham didn't get all of them, some are still alive and they're watching us" Mitchell whispered while Annie clamoured behind his back.

"I don't see them"

"They're predators, you're not meant to" His replied warily as he watched for a single movement in the ferns. Then out he came, a seven foot mass of auburn fur and wild eyes, teeth gnashing claws out.

"Oh my God it's Vaughn" Annie cowered, she wrapped an arm around Mitchell and pulled him away, Mitchell weaved her fingers with his own. The former vampire was secretly afraid for although he was technically dead he had so far had forsook every rule of purgatorial soul, he barely tasted death so was he still partially alive? Could he still feel pain?

There was a swift rustling in the bushes and then a growl as a younger, smaller werewolf jumped in between the couple and the hairy Scot.

Time stood still for a moment as both Annie and Mitchell realised that Tom McNair didn't stand a chance with the burly elder, his father might have had a good try but Tom had no hope at all.

Very slowly Mitchell picked up his friend's shirt and threw it between the wolves he took Annie's hand and without looking at her whispered loving assurances then stepped out of the wolves' way.

"Tom, Vaughn track the scent from this shirt, Vaughn to avenge your friends we have to find Wyndham, track down Wyndham" Mitchell bellowed, the werewolf looked hesitant then looked down at his murdered wife as she lay in human form.

Tom's snout rifled through the creases of the cotton before venturing off on his own, Vaughn reluctantly followed but as he was the stronger of the two was soon leading the way.

"Don't let go of my hand" Mitchell warned Annie as they ran after the trail; werewolves could be as fast as cheetahs the only problem was colliding with civilization. The couple teleported and followed on through many motorways and sleepy villages before coming into an estate. The gravel path stretched half a mile with huge torches lighting up the way into a large manor house.

"Fuck, it's Wuthering fecking Heights, I heard the old ones were pompous and grandiose but Jesus Christ Almighty!" Mitchell gawped

"I've always wanted to see a place like this went to Hampton Court Palace once...this isn't my idea of a good trip out" Annie babbled as they walked up the path, stones crunching with every step the wolves lurking in the shadows ahead.

The teleported into a hallway with a dozen portraits, nearly a quarter of them all had Wyndham in different guises. In a wig, a redcoat and a Prussian uniform, there was even a Muriel of him similar to that found of Henry the VIIi.

"His base was never in Brazil, it was here, it was here the whole fucking time, if I didn't die that night he would have killed everyone. The carnage stops now, that's my price and it has to be paid"

"Will you stop with the Dirty Harry crap and see if you can find George" Annie seethed; Mitchell grabbed Annie and nestled his head against hers.

"Annie my beautiful, beloved and barmy Annie, I'm trying to tell you I'm here on borrowed time and I don't know how long I have or what might happen but I need you to know you were my redemption, I'm so glad I found you...so glad" Mitchell couldn't hold back the tears, Annie cupped his face.

"Stop please stop we haven't even found George yet, you're acting like this is a goodbye" Annie whimpered in confusion, Mitchell gently tugged a curled strand of her hair.

"I can save George but I can't save myself, a punishment is coming in a big way I just don't know how big yet. When I said you were the love of my life I need you believe it because I've never loved another the way I love you" Mitchell gushed pleadingly before kissing her and hugging her tightly, Annie refused to give in

"George and Nina first, then you I have lost too sodding much I am not losing you, I won't lose you!" Annie ordered, with that the couple both raced down the stairs as the werewolves entered through the back. They dispatched as many guards as they could before creeping up another stairwell where a round of applause resounded down the hall.

Mitchell was aghast as he spied two injured werewolves slumped together in a large cage; dozens and dozens of vampires were looking on and laughing. Wyndham stood up on a stage holding Johnny at arm's length. The poor lad was bawling while his mother howled and thrashed against the bars, she was tazered for her maternal efforts.

"Ladies and Gents feast your eyes on an anomaly rarer than Halle's Comet, a total eclipse and an honest politician. Behold...A human child borne from a Lycan Mother, see them change as he stays a boy" Wyndham snarled fiercely.

"So you're basically saying we lost the bet Wyndham? It's obvious he's no werewolf, he isn't even showing signs of being a half-breed" Spoke a grey-haired woman who stood at the front.

"All in good time Shoshanna, observe the eyes, the hair, the restlessness..."

"Is that of an ordinary baby" Grumbled a stout vampire, the elder sighed then placed Johnny on a table. Wyndham appeared as if he was fixing his cufflinks when he plucked a dagger from his sleeved and harpooned it at the disrespectful lout. The foolish vampire crumbled into dust.

"Naughty, naughty" He warned as he gazed at his subjects. He roughly picked the boy back up and carried on.

"Lesson number one in vengeance: always have a exit plan, if indeed he stays human for the first few years of his life then I will take it upon myself to raise him as my son for the purpose of...killing his parents and many others like them." Wyndham had all the flare of a salesman including the goading of his opposition which was George who was now bleeding from smashing up against the bars for so long.

"Agreeable, most agreeable anything else...? Can't we just kill them now?" Shoshanna mused as she tapped the cage, Nina almost sliced off her fingers with her claws.

"As usual Sassy you never have any patience for these things, what would be the fun in that? Listen to my plan...Please" The elder held the lad properly this time and walked about with him as the vampire women feigned cooing at the child.

"He will grow up as my son, his parents will grow up as my slaves, servants, watchdogs, they won't his side therefore they won't leave my side. Without Mitchell they're powerless" The Old one smugly remarked.

"Says you!" Mitchell roared as the werewolves raced in from behind and got to work on the unfortunate few that were nearest to them. Annie and Mitchell combined forces and both shoved at the air, all the vampires fell like dominoes.

With all his mental strength Mitchell smashed the lock and set free his friends. A shock in his side ripped at him as he was tazered, taking the wire away he threw the vampire owner out of the window. Dispatching one vampire after the other with poles, broken table legs and anything else he could find.

Annie and Tom were driven into a corner as they were cut off from the others by a vampire barricade but not for long as Annie tested her telekinesis to the very limit. Chandeliers chinked together, lights flickers and the windows smashed inwardly. The floorboards beneath them creaked then folded and splintered as every nail was pulled up from the rafters. Raising her arms she made a wall of nails and sharp planks of wood. Splaying her fingers she threw her arms in a pushing movement and in seconds the nails and planks became makeshift bullets and arrows, killing at least ten vampires.

Mitchell was grappling with Wyndham for Johnny the elder smirked and dropped the boy from the edge of the stage Annie ran and caught him just in time. She raced into a drawing room and sat him amongst plush cushions and a faux fur blanket.

"It's been a long night for you little man, go have a nap, mummy, daddy you're Uncle John and I are in a bit of a scrum don't trouble that little head of yours" Kissing the boy on the forehead she locked the door and ran back into the fracas.

The werewolves were ripping apart the ones who hadn't escaped as Mitchell violently fought Wyndham on the ground and in the air.

"You betray us for the insipid waste of time known as love, you damn fool, you can't kill me, condemning me is condemning yourself and your friends" Wyndham hissed.

"You can't condemn the dead Wyndham" Mitchell croaked as he pushed Wyndham off him.

"Wanna bet?" Wyndham then proceeded to talk in what appeared to be Latin.

"I never told you what I was as a human" The gibberish words became furious and quick Mitchell felt that something was very wrong.

"I was a monk who once glimpsed at the Dead Sea scrolls, you think Catholics invented exorcism. What they know is child's play compared to what I know..." Wyndham giggled, the world tipped for Mitchell as he lost his balance. The elder stood over him.

He didn't see Annie shoot a plan of wood into his back but he saw the spike peek at his chest, an ethereal groan echoed all around them and the wind picked up. The room darkened as his power tried to pull the stake out. He reached for Mitchell again but Annie was there at his side and stepped in to protect her lover. She shifted the stake further than smashed Wyndham through the ceiling; he came crashing down in another corner of the room. Stumbling to his feet his face was ashen grey and his face was a mosaic of skin, like that of a lizard. As the mosaic escalated his body began to deteriorate and his disappeared like worn marble, the fight was over as Wyndham one of the oldest vampires of the Earth was no more. A roll of thunder and a tornado greeted his departure. With a groan carrying over it the twister disappeared leaving the quartet frozen in fear.

Annie slumped down beside Mitchell as he took her under his arm.

"I guess my soul is the same as yours now" She shrugged

"Impossible my darling' you're a marvel, truly you are" The Irishman panted

By dawn the family Sands were united and Nina couldn't stop crying, it was left to George to save their modesty as he went about rooting through Wyndham's wardrobe. Both parents dressed themselves in his business suits.

Once George was dressed he went about giving thanks to his new blood brother Tom made his consolations to Vaughn and gave Annie a hug so emotional they both almost lost their balance.

Worryingly Mitchell was still sat in the corner, George paused as he gazed at his friend, pulling him up he held on to his hand.

"You look like a yuppie" Mitchell quipped

"Yeah well you look like absolute shit" George heaved

"It doesn't fit for a start" Mitchell poked at the jacket

"Your hair still looks greasier than a chip Butty in an East End Cafe!" George smirked

"Well at least I'm not balding!"

"Hey, my hair is thin okay it's always been thin!" George whined before pushing him, Mitchell pushed back and George returned it again. They stopped for a moment then enveloped each other in a bear hug. Slapping each other's back, George tried to hold back the tears, Mitchell smoothed his head and grabbed his neck like an older brother would and hugged him again.

Without a word he took George's fist.

"You did the right thing, the stake is gone George, the stake is gone, say it" Mitchell said softly, George looked sheepish and embarrassed and tried to laugh it off but his friends and fiancée knew better.

"The...stake...is gone...I'm so sorry Mitchell" He blubbered and hugged his friend again, Nina couldn't find it in her heart to do the same instead she kissed his hand and held them in hers and nodded.

"Thank you" Nina sniffled, George stood at one side of Mitchell and Annie took the other, he leaned against them and smiled to himself.

"Back together once again, ah it's a grand thing" Mitchell grinned

.

Vaughn patted Tom on the back and they exchanged small talk, he would mourn Lisbeth and search for Ava hoping she would have found her way back to the safe-house. The Scot would have another adoption on his hands.

"You are John Mitchell yes" Vaughn queried

"I am yes" Mitchell warily replied

"You were a...vampire, yes?" Vaughn continued as he gritted his teeth and forced the question out.

"I was yes, I've broken a lot of rules to be here" Mitchell shrugged, Annie took his hand, Mitchell raised hers and kissed it. Vaughn noticed the complete doe-eyed adoration Annie had in her eyes. He coughed his anguish at the thought of now being a widower but carried on.

"How do you see yourself first, a vampire or an Irishman?" Vaughn persisted with a suspicious glare.

"An Irishman, naturally" Mitchell guffawed at the stupidity of such a question.

"Aha without so much as a heartbeat taken, spoken like a true Celt. Alright then I will see you as such and shake your hand" The Scot chuckled, the trio giggled with him while Nina cradled her son, after a long pause she passed him to Mitchell

"Meet your namesake" She said softly, Mitchell took hold of him with hesitant but gentle care and tickled his cheek, the boy's eyes were back to being blue again. He slyly looked up at Annie and for the first time in many decades he wondered what his own children would have been like.

"How are you Johnny Boy I'm your uncle" Mitchell whispered and held the baby to his chest, his friends were safe, an elder vampire was killed, he defied the high archangels just to be there – He felt such relief...

...But that was before he spied his shadow.

For a moment it was a simple silhouette of Mitchell's figure but then it stretched and elongated until it was nothing more than a long strip of shadow. The shadow materialised into black rope, stretching the length of the hall where an Iron Gate appeared like a dungeon gate.

They all heard the muffled ringing of a gong and Mitchell stared despairingly at his friends, panic-stricken.

"It wasn't to last though, listen George remember what I said keep saying it yourself, remember me for the man I tried to be and not what I really was" Mitchell rabidly talked, George tried to calm him but it was no use.

"You'll get a stutter if you talk any faster you're acting like this is...goodbye" George was Mickey-taking but then he saw the fear on his friend's face.

"I was never meant to be here, two very angry higher beings are leaving me to my fate as a lesson but then that's what I get for giving two archangels the proverbial finger!" Mitchell sardonically explained.

"Wait, wait I was with you almost the entire time and I didn't see any"

"Not the way we know them but they came to me as tourist, complete with hippy beads, plaits and...A tattoo of a sword, the sword of justice, Annie" Mitchell replied as his heart began to break once more. This was it, he was going to leave her behind.

"Gaby and Mike, Gabrielle and Michael...? _The_ Gabrielle and Michael, how back-handed is that for not showing themselves properly?" Annie shrieked as the penny finally dropped. Mitchell groaned in agony as he felt the rope tighten around him and pull him away. His friends knelt down with him.

"Annie say goodbye, say goodbye to me sweetheart...say it" Mitchell wept as he pawed her face, all Annie could do was shake her head and mouth the word _'No'_.

He took hold of George and Annie's hand, he looked over to George.

"The truest friend I ever had"

He looked over to Annie.

"Wherever I go now I'm happy to because you already saved me my love, you already saved me" Mitchell stammered, Annie whimpered then kissed him hard.

An icy cold wind pinned the group against a wall, George grabbed Annie's hand in comfort as they watched Mitchell being thrashed in the air from side to side before dragging him further towards the door. The gate opened up to a tunnel of absolute darkness. Mitchell managed to raise his head and stare at his terrified friends.

"You two made my broken life complete, may God bless you and keep you always"

With that John Mitchell was pulled into the darkness and into the unknown, Annie screamed his name.

The force that pinned them down released them Annie grabbed George for one last hug.

"Will you be okay...?"

George was still in shock but tears flowed as he shook then nodded his head as he realised the true scale of his loss.

Annie hugged him again

"Be happy, remember the good times" She cooed

Before Annie made a run for it Nina pulled her back she was weeping wildly.

"Annie |I'm so sorry, it was me who turned Mitchell in I...thought I was protecting everyone but I just made things worse" She croaked, Annie embraced her and smoothed her hair.

"...Forgive him if you can, forgive yourself...I loved you all very much. I'll give a signal when we're safe" Annie concluded, she kissed young Johnny on the head then raced after his beloved namesake, chasing after his screams and his trail, in the blur between worlds.

The gate closed behind them and disappeared, George was left devastated and clung to his family as they sat amid the carnage of their rescue.

* * *

**...Nearly over fellow BH fans and if the series goes bad next year...you could always pretend this was series 4 lol!**


	8. Love, Reincarnate

**Well here we are my last chapter to my fictional series 4, It appears I've made a faceoff between religion and myth but don't look too much into it. I'm a great fan of myths and the Gods and Goddesses of the old world. Hope you enjoy! R&R!**

* * *

Annie ran into darkness, ran into shadows, long corridors and dank alleyways covered by twilight with no stars and no clouds. The moon wasn't even there to guide her way and make her feel safe Annie could swear she could see Mitchell's flailing arms as he was being dragged two or three metres ahead of her.

Along with his screams came the wails and groans of others, the worlds of Earth and the afterlife melted in one long blur as she ran after her lover. A terrible realisation came to her for if she lost Mitchell she would be lost also and she knew deep down this was not purgatory anymore.

Mitchell raised his head and saw Annie following behind; he was cowering and yelling with his faced pouring with sweat, the fear was nothing he had ever felt before. Without warning he disappeared and Annie was left alone in the passage of eternity. When she stopped running she found herself at crossroads, she could still hear Mitchell shouting her name but it didn't have an origin anymore, instead the voice echoed 260 degrees around her. She kneeled down and waited for her ethereal kidnappers to return. She saw a pair of boots and a figure with dark denim jeans kneel in front of her. Taking her arms the figure pulled Annie to her feet.

"This is no place to cry and certainly no place to dawdle" Vincent cooed as he wore more contemporary clothes, Annie hugged him in relief and he was happy to hug back. There were no wilful remarks this time, no more games to play for he wanted Annie Sawyer to know him beyond the vampire, the charlatan and just be Vincent Rothschild.

"Vinnie you came after us? Why, what for?" Annie panted, Vincent thought about revealing his heart but he wisely decided against it.

"Mitchell acts like he's the only rule-breaker in purgatory...Wrong! I'm here to help you find your way but only as far as I can, I'll be in big trouble though I'm not supposed to be here"

"What will happen to you?" Annie asked as she took his hand, he clasped hers rather bashfully and smiled.

"Penitence at best, if I find my way back I'll find my way back if I don't well...That's afterlife!" He tried to shrug off his predicament but Annie realised in order to help Annie save Mitchell Vincent was possibly condemning himself. Annie was floored by the gesture.

"You're a good man Vinnie" She said softly

"Yeah well don't spread it about, six centuries is a big build-up for a reputation just to smash it up for the love of a girl...Did I say love?" Vinnie coughed out his embarrassment at letting the cat out of the bag and tried to back away, Annie followed him.

"You put your soul on the line for little old me eh?" Annie teased

"You're worth it, whatever happens to me I want you to know I'm glad I helped out" He stammered, Annie couldn't find any words for how grateful she was to him but then sometimes words just wasn't enough. Cupping his face with one hand then the other she kissed him softly on the lips.

Vincent scrunched his eyes in longing as he kissed back only once, he knew she was no cheat but loved her even more for thanking him in such a beautiful fashion. Taking her hand he kissed it hard and began to run.

They ran for miles and miles and the groans became louder and louder, Annie clutched at her friend's hand tightly as a wind blasted out from nowhere.

"Don't be afraid, keep going!" Vincent ordered

They ran on and on until Annie saw the desperate figure of Mitchell still being dragged by his shadow. Vincent let go of her hand and stopped running but Annie was forced to keep going.

"Goodbye beautiful, see you when I see you!" Vincent voice echoed in the distance.

Annie then ran into a warehouse with navy blue walls, Mitchell was lying breathless at the far end, she started moving towards him.

"Stay where you are honey, I don't want her to hurt you" The Irishman seethed in agony and he tried sitting up.

Suddenly he was pulverised against a beam as shadows of raven started slamming into him, he screamed as he was pinned down.

"Mitchell who, who are you on about?" Annie wailed

"The Morigghan "He wheezed

Then there was a shriek and a dozen black feathers appeared and swirled like a tornado then dispersed to reveal a tall black-haired woman skin and cold and ashen as stone, eyes as grey as the darkest storm cloud. She was dressed in a feathered cape and black velvet dress. She wore a cap with a silver arch across it – Resembling a bird's beak. She spoke in the Irish of old and Mitchell had to do the same.

Inexplicable as it was Annie understood every word.

"You're a fool to cross an archangel but to cross a Goddess you are a condemned man John Mitchell of Dublin"

"I will pay my dues Morrighan and accept my punishment wilfully but Annie will be given safe passage to heaven" Mitchell pleaded, with one wave of her staff the former vampire was slammed against a wall, his body rippling in agony.

"You came to immortality quite violently my child but don't ever think you can bargain with me because of it, she wished to be with you therefore she will face the consequences"

Annie's body was yanked into a jump before falling on to the floor but she tried crawling towards Mitchell in turn Mitchell tried to pry himself away from his containment. He roared out his frustration.

"Don't you touch her, your quarrel is with me Morrighan I should have died on the battlefield I've run from you for so long but here I am. Let Annie go please"

The shadows of the raven taunted and burned at his soul even more and he started screaming again.

"Stop please stop, let him go please I understand he must pay for his crimes Oh but I love him please stop it, take him away or leave him here but don't torture him!" Annie yelled as the room reverberated with her anger.

"Oh what's this? A mortal defying a deity, humans followed us for so long then along came Socrates and all his logic and the why and the when and the how. Just because you don't believe in us anymore doesn't make us unreal" Morrighan huffed and forcefully pushed Annie to her knees by her powers.

"Just get it over with, what are you waiting for? Make him disappear make him your slave, why all this?" Annie raged as she looked helplessly at her love.

"Ah I know who you are now, his kindred yes? Explains why you wish to defy me. The love you bear is deep, too deep. There is no sense in this my child, your soul mate is lost to you?" The Goddess leered at her captive then stroked his face.

"I don't believe that, soul mates are not meant to lose each other, not like this" Annie whimpered.

"Are you an expert in the cosmos, do you know the minds of Venus and Eros? I doubt that very much. But tell me Anna, are you proposing an exchange?"

"No she fucking isn't, Annie don't do it, don't do it sweetheart!" Mitchell was livid and began to kick and push against Morrighan's power with all the strength he had.

"I'm assuming his soul can't start again on Earth, can you arrange for Mitchell to start again, a clean slate?" Annie murmured

"Not too clean my dear, he has massacred people, the blight will be on his soul for eternity...but he can start again if he so wishes"

"NO, NO the price is too great Annie, you don't know what you're doing!" Mitchell pleaded, Annie was allowed to wander over to him. She kissed him softly and he was suddenly released from confinement. His arms swarmed around her he furiously shook his head and cried.

"So be it" said the deity

The lovers were pulled apart and this time it was Annie who felt the brunt of the raven's shadow, she screamed and yelled as Mitchell cradled her in his arms and held her tight. With a broken heart he waited for Morrighan to snatch her away. But then a name popped into his head and he called it out until his voice was hoarse.

"Michael, I need your help...I surrender, I surrender to you...Michael!"

There was a whoosh of air, a rumble of thunder and a blinding light as the archangel came to the rescue.

"Morrighan, be gone with thee, you made your point but these souls are mine now" Michael commanded as he unsheathed his grand sword.

"The girl has bargained her soul to me save the fool if you can but I keep the girl" Morrigan trembled.

"You will do no such thing, the exchange is forfeited by her love for him and love is not in your jurisdiction My Lady" Michael warned as the lovers hugged each other tightly below the immortals.

"Nor is it in yours!" The Goddess spat, Michael nodded and swiped the sword into air.

"No but mercy is, be gone crone!" He ordered and the Goddess shrieked as her feathers fell away she disappeared. The room had turned white, the danger was over.

Mitchell smoothed his fingers over Annie's cheeks and smiled, Annie was exhausted and bewildered.

"Who was that Mitchell?" She heaved

"Before Padraig came she was revered and feared by many of my people, it's difficult to explain but she is the Celtic version of the grim reaper, you've heard of the banshee?"

"Vaguely, I watched a weird film with Sean Connery as a young man once, it had a banshee in it" Annie recalled with confusion.

Mitchell nodded then chuckled and warily got to his feet as he faced the angel that saved him.

"She was right about one thing, your soul is forever tainted, if you do live on your conscience will vex you but you won't remember why or how"

"Thank you Michael, I'm grateful"

"You're not out of the woods yet" Michael said sternly, talking his sword his swiped it inches away from Mitchell and saw his shadow fall away where it faded into the floor. Mitchell felt like he had been actually cut by the blade.

"Annie time to begin again, I cannot say whether Mitchell will cross with you or even find you but life is yours completely so take it"

"I will Michael and Thank you for everything...please-" Annie stuttered then walked up to the angel who was dressed in white jeans and a white vest almost as he was posing for Calvin Klein. His wings shimmered and shone.

"...Please, take Vincent back he may never cross over but let him at least be someplace safe please!"

"Your spirit is a charitable one, very well" Michael grinned.

Somewhere is purgatory Vincent Stefan Rothschild appeared in mid-air and landed on a park bench with a thud, he looked around the tranquil scenery and smiled knowingly.

"I love you Annie Sawyer" He whispered to the wind

Michael left to the lovers to cross over at their own time, the threshold glowed pure white and beyond it was nothing but light.

The couple sat against a wall opposite it and held hands.

"Are you scared?" Mitchell asked as he looked at her with eyes so full of love.

"Petrified, maybe I won't be human maybe I'll be an animal, I'd like to try being a dolphin or a lioness. See what being a predator is about"

"Promise you'll try to be nothing more than what you already are" Mitchell said softly as Annie buried her head against his neck. Annie simply nodded and a few tears trickled down her face.

Mitchell kissed them away then found her lips. Annie hooked her arms around his waist and pulled up his top. Mitchell nibbled at her shoulder and hugged her tight.

Their love-making teetered between desperate and tender as both realised they could face lifetimes apart without knowing each other or possibly never seeing each other again.

Mitchell pushed Annie to the wall as they clumsily writhed against each other, partially clothed, partially crying together.

Annie grabbed at his hair while he gasped against her cheek then moaned into a kiss, nestling his face beside hers. They swayed passionately into one another while Mitchell made a breathless confession.

"I would have been proud to have been your husband, you, me and our children bashing around O' Connell Street, what a beautiful day that would have been" He panted

"I would have liked showing you off back in St Lucia we would have had a ball. You, me hammocks and sunsets and cocktails a plenty" Annie stammered

"Some other lifetime perhaps" He grinned

"Yuck never knew you to be corny, you're not going to burst into a Chicago song are you?" Annie teased

"No, get away out of that!" He chuckled before groaning again.

After passion peaked they slipped down into each other's embrace and sighed deeply.

As they dressed neither one could bear to look at the other as the threshold awaited them, they held hands.

"For better or worse you and George were the best friends I could have asked for" Annie smiled with melancholy. Mitchell kissed her hand and led her towards the glowing light. He turned to her and held her shoulders.

"I'll find you again if you believe anything I want you to believe that"

"I do" Annie softly answered.

With that they held hands and rushed into the light. As before Mitchell ran into nothing but white all he knew at that moment was the feeling of Annie hand's in his. But soon a gust of wind blew about him and Annie slipped away.

"I love you Mitchell" Annie called out.

Back on Earth three years had passed since their friends had left them, it was a balmy day and young John was playing on a trampoline in the garden. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and there was barely a breeze. George and Nina had since married and had moved to Devon where Tom McNair would visit on his holidays from college.

Suddenly a gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew hard through the wind chimes, George was puzzled but was baffled even further by the spontaneous whistle of the kettle. George hugged his wife and sighed with relief.

"Annie and her ruddy tea, I'm guessing they crossed over, they made their way back from hell...Mitchell could outfox anyone if he wanted to" George sniffled.

Somewhere in the distance, some years with many miles and lifetimes ahead. Two young boys were playing on the street outside their houses. A removal van parked up and behind it was a yellow Fiat car. A family of four climbed out of the car and went in and out of the house opposite.

"I suppose we should say hello" Jack Mullen quipped, at eight years old he was curious as he spied the teenage boy then a young girl of mixed race. She two dimples on her neck and her hair was neatly plaited.

"I'm not making friends with a girl!" His friend and neighbour yelped, at seven years old Greg Solomon wasn't too trusting of the female of the species.

"Fine I'll just say hello on my own, yellow-belly!" Jack teased then wandered towards the new family, without really knowing why he plucked a nearby daffodil and bashfully handed it to the young girl.

"I'm Jack, the mute over there is Greg he's harmless" Jack waved his friend over, refusing to be embarrassed by him.

"Hello" Greg said nervously.

"Hello, nice to meet you I'm Abigail, Abby for short" The girl said softly, Jack was already smitten, he didn't know how or why but he was.

"Abigail, nice name, nice to meet you Abby, hope we become...friends" Jack smiled.

Without knowing two souls re-connected again, high, high up above the trio the archangels looked on tnodding with satisfaction then went to work someplace else.

* * *

**Thank you to those who stuck with it, MyLittleStorys, Saderia and everyone else thanks for your lovely reviews!**


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